


Distorted Diesels: Chronicles of BUNX

by LucielleintheSky1987



Category: Distorted Diesels by Missluckychan29, Trains - Fandom
Genre: Other, Trains, diesel locomotives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 93
Words: 96,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23797318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucielleintheSky1987/pseuds/LucielleintheSky1987
Summary: In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
Kudos: 1





	1. Character Designs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Here's a look at what some characters look like.  
> Note, I'll be getting up non deviantArt links soon

Some images are spoilery

Original Roster:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/BUNX-Rail-Roster-Pic-803239900>

Human Duncan:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/TTTE-Human-AU-Duncan-though-no-one-asked-for-him-806057110>  
  


Beezelbub:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Beezelbub-Lilith-Azazel-The-Missing-Mercury-813695189>

Vesper:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Vesper-and-her-Human-Form-806341442>

Nellie:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Trainsona-updated-Negative-Nellie-the-SW1001-803236102>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Goldie-Fox-Feral-EJE-Nellie-814891603>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Art-Nellie-Out-of-Commission-Due-to-Sadness-812622966>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Old-Art-Sketch-Nellie-in-train-Jail-822156491>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/A-Station-Night-after-a-Confrontation-826490767>

Zoey:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/BUNX-5001-GMD-GP30-Zoey-Krolik-780613501>  
<https://sta.sh/01tw6jt7ue32>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Zoey-humanoid-Ch9-Ch-28-5-810914703>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Mech-Suit-Zoey-final-battle-814482816>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Safe-with-Big-Sister-811967213>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/1973-Zoey-the-GP30-Humanoid-823435181>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/QuickDoodle-Two-Small-GMD-Sisters-825412055>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Corrupt-Monster-Zoey-826412078>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Young-Zoey-in-her-Sunday-Tea-outfit-826411754>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Quik-Doodle-Distorted-Diesels-A-Broken-Bunny-826412213>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Zoey-Ch-67-and-Onward-828013447>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Young-Zoey-Art-Vintage-Memes-829575925>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Quick-Drawing-Young-Zoey-in-Overall-Dress-829623734>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Quick-Draw-1980s-Zoey-the-GP30-off-duty-wear-830215198>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Humanoid-Zoey-mid-90s-to-2003-830418935>

Oceana and Lydia:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Oceana-the-fabled-one-GE-C40-8W-CN-2455-humanoid-835422668>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Lydia-Angellus-Gomez-former-CN-GP35-835767961>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Shedtime-Wear-Humanoid-Oceana-and-Lydia-835980534>

Lucy Dalton:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Lucy-Dalton-w-out-her-tender-National-Train-Day-744561131>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Lucy-Dalton-s-human-form-654014060>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Lucy-in-Lottie-s-Old-Dress-837387661>

Ellie Miller-Dawson:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/TLETC-Contest-Entry-Ellie-the-EMD-SW7-772692202>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Human-form-reference-for-Ellie-the-EMD-SW7-724442515>

Scarlet:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Scarlet-the-Montreal-Locomotive-Works-RS-23-689741181>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gijinka-Scarlet-628561065>

Lazuli:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gijinka-form-Lazuli-the-GP20-eco-680316633>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Watercolour-Lazuli-PaintsChainer-683241409>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/QuickDrawing-Lazuli-Corrupted-823192564>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/QuickDoodle-Humanoid-Lazuli-825410354>

April:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Old-Art-Humanoid-April-the-SD30-ECO-810367430>

Renee:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Renee-the-GP39-2R-BNSF-LIVERY-833977502>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Renee-the-GP39-2R-BUNX-LIVERY-833977467>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Renee-the-GP39-2R-BNSF-Humanoid-Form-833977449>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Renee-the-GP39-2R-BUNX-Humanoid-Form-833977484>

Rainy:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Rainy-s-humanoid-form-807743516>

Star:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Human-form-Star-the-AC44-GE-Every-Purpose-807204817>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Quick-Art-LazStar-Smol-Lesbians-827788590>  
<https://sta.sh/0ecnzk5p9of>

Sapphirra:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Humanoid-Sapphirra-the-GE-C40-8W-CN-2456-810367421>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Sapphirra-in-Formal-wear-837576295>

Angeline:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Angeline-the-GMD-SD40-w-human-form-811491332>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Artwork-Princess-Sunstone-aka-Battle-form-Angie-813695164>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Angeline-in-Formal-Wear-837513409>

Malcolm:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Train-OC-Malcolm-Goldstein-821063685>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DistortedDiesels-Leather-Lovin-Himbo-Bananafox-822624728>

Mildred and Sandra:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Zoey-s-Gay-Aunts-Mildred-and-Sandra-now-827896875>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Young-Zoey-Mildred-and-Sandra-in-the-60s-829017783>  
[https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gift-Art-Two-RS3s-our-to-Tea-831410746 (just Sandy with Abigail)](https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gift-Art-Two-RS3s-our-to-Tea-831410746)

Lottie:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Lottie-the-Royal-Hudson-CP2828-829576189>

<https://sta.sh/0149899vtu49>

Marina:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/A-Page-of-Marina-829576819>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-A-Sisterly-Reunion-831552551>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Marina-the-GP20-ECO-831621898>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Marina-s-Humanoid-Form-831621905>

Penelope:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Penelope-the-EMD-GP30-834104704>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Young-Penelope-GN3001-833977275>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Penelope-human-form-offduty-before-BN-833977508>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Penelope-the-GP30-humanoid-CP-palette-835412116>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Penelope-the-EMD-GP30-CP-Era-Paint-834373021>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Precious-Pink-Penelope-838183381>

Jackie:  
https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gayest-Geep-out-of-GMD-Jackie-the-GP30-for-Aero-744416038  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gijinka-Jackie-the-GMD-GP30-Work-Clothes-738254069>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Jackie-the-GP30-Saturnalia-Present-for-Chloe-823714635>  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Gift-Art-Jackie-the-GP30-humanoid-outfits-835423815>

Zoey, Penelope, and Jackie as children:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Three-Little-Ladies-838183779>

Nate Cottontail:  
<https://sta.sh/0tnnfirybqe>

Tracy:  
<https://sta.sh/01shlf2zmb1y>

Fang:  
<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Humanoid-Fang-the-GE-Dash-8-830090403>

Cassidy

<https://sta.sh/016pyew6jrjv>


	2. A Normal Work Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Distorted Diesels is a story based in kind of the thomas universe in the current year starring some of my OCs and sonas and personalities  
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Lazuli and Star are my OCs  
> Zoey is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name  
> Rainy is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name  
> Debby is my OC as is Slade, Red, Patricia, Tracy and the Mercury that went missing  
> Ruby is the trainsona of The-Heroine-fi on deviantArt

In this realm, many engines are built alike, to be specific, they have a unique mineral added into their metal when they are built.  
That metal is Transforminite, a normally hightly unstable element, but when added to steel, it forms a powerful alloy.  
When humans discovered transforminite in the 1920s, they added it to every new engine they could, continuing even into today, despite some odd effects.  
You see, trains are alive. Like us, they can think and feel, aspire and share, and they have lives all their own, but with transforminite, there was something new. Some engines, who can harness enough strength from their transforminite that they can shapeshift and therefore take on human-like forms. Which, sometimes had horrifying consequences along the years, including a situation where a Mercury was caught practicing Satanism late at night, only to mysteriously vanish in the early morning of June 6th. There's also been cases where diesels who have anger issues turn into werewolf like creatures when they turn human because the transforminite makes their form 'wobble' with their emotional instability.  
However, our story does not begin with the start of transforminite, nor the Mercury, but rather with a little freckly, pessimistic switcher a few months after her move back to the centre of Canada.  
Nellie Dawn Joliet, built by EMD, travelled many distances in her lifespan, but since the frost of last year, had been residing and working under the BUNX railway in her old home.

"Nell.... nelll.... Nellllliiiiiieeeee." a voice whispered.

  
The black, red and white diesel opened up her greyish blue eyes and locked them upon the eyes of her best friend and dispatcher, Zoey, a royal blue and white GMD GP30, one of the only 2 made in Canada.

  
Nellie groaned groggily, "Nooooo... More sleep, Zoe... please..."

  
Zoey laughed softly and then remarked gently, "I'd let you, but it's almost dispatch time, sleepy switcher."

  
With that, the SW1001's eyes opened wide and she started back notch 8

  
"OHHHH No no no! I don't wanna be late!" she frantically huffed as she bumped into a filled gondola car behind her.

  
Zoey felt a little bad but was firm, "Nell.. it's alright... but please meet us down at the yard gates. You have an important duty today, alright? I promise after work, I'll treat you if you're good."

  
Nellie felt the gondola car roll back and she irritatedly murmured, "How is it not empty? It wasn't full last night, and no one could get behind me, what in the flying.."

  
"Nell!" a voice sternly yet gently rang out to the diesel causing her to look down as to see what was touching her coupler, it was Zoey's coupler.

  
The blue geep looked at her friend through her magnetic glasses and worriedly stated, "You're really on edge. Do you need to turn off your radio?"

  
Nellie pleaded, "No, no no no... because then I can't talk to you, and I can't radio to my sister and I can't radio to..."

  
"Nell, I know you're hearing that bad voice come through, you're really high strung... just... please try to ignore it, alright? If you're good, I'll take you for icecream tonight, just... remember you have me to talk to if you're struggling. And Ruby, Patricia, Red, Rainy, heck even Countess because she's just across the river. Anyways... Just... please try... for all of us."

  
Nellie looked down embarrassedly and let out a sigh, "I'll... do my best."

  
Zoey smiled warmly to her best friend as her compressor let out a relieved sigh, "Great. I always like to hear that."

  
Zoey backed up along the line, allowing her friend to follow along to be with the others of their railway, passing by a snoring SD-40.

  
Nellie joked, "How come Rain gets to sleep?"

  
"He prefers the nightshift, remember?... Like when you and him were playing with the office long distance radio and got into some hot water?" Zoey stated, making Nellie sink down a bit on her trucks as she remembered.

  
"Oh... right. Sorry again about that."

  
"No need, anyways, it's work time."

  
And with that the two made it to the front of the yard, where two younger diesels were eagerly awaiting their assignments.

  
A large blue and white striped AC44 cheerfully shouted, albeit unintentionally, "Morning Nellie! How was your sleep?"

  
Nellie replied back after being startled by the loud voice, "Oh, I slept alright and I'm well Star, thank you for asking."

  
The little red GP20-ECO next to the AC44 glanced over at Nellie and innocently stated after a quick scan, "Ms. Joliet, I think you must be lying, my scans read you're still rather tired and you're also...."

  
"I'm fine, Lazuli, I can handle a little sleepiness." the little switcher huffed.

Lazuli stopped and gasped, "Ohhhh! Sorry.... I.. I'll be quiet. Sorry."

  
Zoey looked upon her 3 workers and smiled warmly and kindly. She loudly proclaimed, "Now then, I have our orders for the day, and I want you all to do your best and follow instructions."

  
Star and Lazuli looked at each other, hoping they'd work together today.

  
Zoey announced, "Lazuli, you will be going with Red to take the Water District train out along the aqueduct for inspections. Sorry, but tomorrow is your day you work with Star."

  
"Awww rats!" shouted the largest diesel, in a very childlike voice.

  
Zoey resumed speaking, drawing her attention to the largest diesel, "Star, you're going to pick up our fuel rations out at the Burlington Northern yard, please no tug of war, those poor orange diesels' trucks still ache from the last time you showed them your strength."

  
Star giggle-snorted proudly as she trilled, "No worries, Miss. I save the games for Saturday Night Smackdowns now."

  
Zoey finally turned her attention to Nellie, and the geep's face looked a tad somber as she spoke, "Nell, I know you want to come with me to Arlington today and help me switch some of the retired diesels, but unfortunately that's not today. CN rented you again for the practice yards. Just, do your best, alright?"

  
Nellie was disheartened entirely. There, again? Did she really have to? Why did CN like to do this to her? She smiled weakly.

  
Lazuli stared at the gate and softly whispered some numbers to herself as her internal computer keyed in the code to open the yard's gate.

  
The e-lock beeped and the green light came on as the gate began to open, first to leave the yard was Zoey, proudly rolling on her way to get across to the CP tracks not too far away, then Star, trundling loudly yet carefully so she could go obtain the fuel rations, then Lazuli.

  
Nellie stared out the gate in misery, let out a sigh and made her way up the line to the CN practice yard. The pessimistic little diesel huffed, "Another day, another deeper delve into depression."

  
The little diesel rolled along the clear line up to the CN Transcona shops, peeking in briefly to see if she could see anyone familiar.

  
An SD75i was in for repairs, she had strained her trucks again.

  
The little switcher greeted the blue-eyed large diesel, "Hi Mom!"

  
The SD75i's eyes welled up with tears of joy as she warmly said, "Morning Nellie. Another day working in the practice yard?"

  
The greyish-blue eyed switcher looked down worriedly.

  
"No matter what happens, I couldn't think less of you."

  
An ES44 diesel in the next bay hissed, "Keep it down, Debby Downer. I'm trying to sleep."

  
Nellie retorted, "I might be small, but you don't talk to my adoptive mommy that way! She's important to me." She trundled up and tapped her coupler to her 'mom's'. She continued, "She's not always perfect but she tries really hard!"

  
There was coughing heard from the next bay over, Nellie backed up to take a look, there was a GE C44-9W CN 2500, the class leader, Slade.

  
Slade looked down with his dark eyes at Nellie and smiled as he deeply greeted, "So ready for another day?"

  
"I'll try. But I'm worried if I make a mistake, I mean.. Tracy the Operation Lifesaver isn't in today so I'm worried I'll switch cars wrong or something." the little diesel exhaled, she felt her compressor kick in, a clear indicator her worry was causing her to lose air.

  
Slade said in his old voice, despite being newer, "You'll do ok, you've done ok before, and I will be around if you need help."

  
Nellie smiled worriedly and replied still cautiously, "Thanks Dad."

  
She said her farewells and headed to the practice yard, seeing CN trainees ready to start practicing for when they'd be in the big yard or running on an actual line run.

  
There was a crackle through her radio from that dreaded mystery voice, she wasn't sure if it was human or a train, but it sneered at Nellie in a cold voice, "Good morning, scrapheap. Just watch, today will be horrifically bad. You'll regret ever being built," before the voice cackled viciously, sending a chill into Nellie's hood

  
Nell felt today was going to be bad.

To Be Continued.


	3. Distorted Diesels: Chronicles of BUNX- Zoey's Celebration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey and Nellie have ice cream then has a party but then loses her shit when a diesel comes onto her. Also yay Lazuli and Star are a cute pair of gay beans  
> most if not all diesel characters here are my Ocs   
> zoey is a part of me  
> nellie is my trainsona

Nellie's day proceeded as normal, she basically was driven around by the engineers and conductors in training, not allowed to drive herself however, because they needed to know how to control an engine in case an engine couldn't drive themselves, despite her being on CN.

Meanwhile, Lazuli and Star got back early from their assignments, entering the yard together laughing happily because they had a plan.   
You see, today was no ordinary day, well it kind of was but not to the diesels of Beautiful Unique Nonpermanent Rail Solutions Co. Today was rather the first anniversary of the beginning of BUNX, when Zoey decided she was bored of Scoular Co and wanted something better by using her onboard computer to invest some borrowed money into stocks so she could begin to make a rail co run by engines themselves.  
Lazuli, once her driver got her into the yard before exiting the GP20-Eco's cab, focused really hard.   
Star also began to focus really hard as well.  
Suddenly, if by magic, the two diesels began to shrink and morph. After about a minute, the GP unit was now a 14 year old red-head clad in varying hues of red, in a wheelchair with pale grey skin.  
Star had also become a human-like being of about the age of 12 with pale grey skin, however her form had long black hair in a ponytail, donning a white and blue striped dress as well as some awesome bright blue workboots.  
Star ran right up to her girlfriend and gave her a humongous hug while giggling childishly, "Oh, Laz! I DO love being able to do this." She then playfully noogied Lazuli's fauxhawk while remarking, "Fluffy fluffy fluffy diesel!"  
Lazuli laughed and remarked in a raspy but jovial tone, "Knock it off, Stardust, we have work to do!"  
Star stopped but kissed Laz on the nose and giggled, "Sorry, but it's funny. And you're right. The celebration won't set up itself!"

So with that the two young diesels in human formats began setting up decorations around the yard, humming happily.

Unfortunately, their merry working woke up the parts diesel of the yard, GWWD 501, better known as Neil the grumpy and cold Montreal Locomotive Works S12.

"Hey! You sinners! What in ALCO's Name do you think you're doing?!" he barked, the former BCR engine glared irritably at Lazuli and Star

"Well it doesn't concern you, Neil." Lazuli snarkily remarked and smiled as she wheeled herself along to the best of her abilities.

He barked again, "Respectable engines never turn human, it's wrong!" 

Star stated politely yet threateningly, "Mister, You realize I'm an AC44 GE-Every Purpose, I am bigger than you and stronger than you and I could crush you like a can of fuel additive."

Neil mumbled in disgust something and then minded his own business much to his dismay. He realized what Star said and laughed, "So you're a geep too then, huh? Then you and green-eyed-monster are..."

A loud honk silenced Neil and a caring yet firm voice shouted, "That is enough, brother!" It was Patricia, GWWD 500, she was the head of the Water District's small fleet but she wouldn't have Neil harrassing the youngin's.

"Thanks Aunt Patty!" Lazuli trilled happily, "I would give you a hug but I still haven't figured out walking yet."

"It's alright sweetie. Do you girls need a hand? I don't mind helping if I can."

While Patricia had long forgotten how to turn human, she still did her best to help where she could while Red, GWWD 502, switched traincars around for the next inspections train.

Outside the CN yards, once Nellie was done, she trundled tiredly out of the yard but as she approached the level crossing at Bournais road she saw someone standing by the tracks. The little diesel slowed gently to get a better look. 

A human-sequence grey skinned woman in a blue and white BUNX shirt with white leather work gloves. She greeted Nellie, "Hello Nel, work go ok?"

"I'm tired but I think it went ok. Can we go get that ice cream now, pretty please, Zoe?"

The SW1001 and her human-form friend traveled down the CN line until they got to a bridge going overtop of the CP line. Nellie focused extremely hard as Zoey clamboured out of her cab. The little switcher shifted down to being a 5'3" ginger young woman, donning a black and red shirt with her number and line written on it in white, black denim, black headband, and steel toed running shoes. However, she didn't quite look all that human. She had two fox like ears and her nails were unnaturally sharper than most humans.

Zoey looked at Nellie and sighed, "Nell..."

The now humanesque switcher huffed, "Look I'm sorry, ok?"

"If you keep doing this, it'll be permanent and you'll turn feral."

"I know... I'm trying not to let things get to me, but it's really hard. You know that too, but you do so much better at it than I."

Zoey tugged on her gloves slightly to make sure they were properly on before she cheerfully remarked, "Well, let's not stand around these tracks."

And with that, the two friends slid down the hill at the side of the track, bringing them down to the street below.

After about a block, Zoey adjusted her pigtails and looked at Nellie who was a little worried and sad looking. With her normally cheery voice the brunette remarked, "So how's my favourite 1001 doing? Another bad day?"

Nellie quietly replied, "Worried for tomorrow, J..... Zoey." The ginger's fox ears pointed downwards embarrassed she almost did it again. She reiterated to herself, "Zoey, Zoey, her name is Zoey, she's not her sister."

"It's ok, don't be too hard on yourself, Nell. I know it's close to when you were shown around by her. Just relax and remember I'm here."

The rest of the walk was awkwardly quiet to the Provencher Dairy Queen. The two girls ordered their usual, Zoey paid, Nellie and Zoey took a seat at a table and waited for their blizzards as they watched the CN line just at the edge of the parking lot.

"Wonder if Dusk is going by this afternoon." The brunette humanoid GP30 trilled as she folded a napkin into an origami rabbit.

Nellie watched her friend folding the napkin curiously. She looked up at her friend and smiled happily, the ginger's hands starting to twitch excitedly. 

"You excited for ice cream?"

"No, just I like watching you make those paper thingies. They're really cool!"

Shortly after, a worker brought them their blizzards, one medium brownie dough blizzard and a small Oreo blizzard.

"Happy anniversary of us meeting, Zoey. Sorry I couldn't buy the blizzards." The grey eyed girl half heartedly spoke, feeling guilty.

Zoey responded contently, "For the love of GMD, Nell, it's ok. And besides I made the offer to treat you. After all, if you didn't fool around with your radio we wouldn't have you on the roster."

After their icecream and some more chatter the two headed back up the road and across the tracks to the GWWD yard, looking to see who was back from their duties.

Zoey and Nellie looked upon the yard and saw a bunch of engines, even some that didn't work nor stay there. Some in human formats some as diesels.

Sitting at the end of the yard was the gracious and beautiful Countess of Dufferin as well as Greg, a CN GMD 1 that resided at the museum with Countess.

Laz proclaimed as she wheeled up to her best friend and dispatcher, "Happy BUNX Day, big sis! We threw a party, come have some cake!"

Nellie smiled as she looked around seeing many diesels, including Red who was already having some punch from the not-safe bowl.

Star ran up to Zoey and hugged her while excitedly asking, "Ms. Zoey, do you like the party?"

Zoey nodded as she picked up the short humanoid AC44 and gave her a hug and a little noogie before setting her down. She said happily, "You girls are the best young metal we have, great work."

"Don't forget to thank Aunt Patty too though!" the wheelchair bound ginger remarked as she looked over at the MLW RS23 who was chatting up a storm with Scarlet, a former parts diesel who had her life put back together in both meanings.

Zoey laughed as she responded, "I'll thank her, I promise. but uh, where's Neil?"

The blue clad little girl pointed to the train car yard across the road to a sulking Neil. She answered, "He was a meanie and got a timeout."

Zoey laughed so hard she couldn't breathe and gave a thumbs up to Star before going to socialize.

The party was going wonderfully, everyone was having a great time. Zoey was now chatting with Red over some cake with Nellie nearby.

Red chortled as they looked at Zoey, "Ya know, when you're tiny like that you look almost tasty."

Zoey joked back, "You'd have to catch me first anyways, and secondly, I don't think Nellie would like it all that much if I got eaten in any sense of the word."

The humanoid SW1001 nodded, her fox ears turning curiously hoping the conversation would change back to normal.

The nonbinary RS23 didn't in fact change the conversation but added, "Other forms of eating like say eat you out? I would be down for that, rabbit."

Zoey's jovial expression shifted to a stern frown as she put her foot down, "Well I'm not so please just stop talking about this, Red."

"Oh come on, it would be fun, Zoe. Nellie could watch us and then watch us notch around the yard."

Nellie interrupted, "She's ace, stop it, Red!"

"You sure you're ace? I see you and freckles go out for ice cream dates."

"Those are not dates, Red... Now stop it before I shunt you out of the yard."

Nellie pleaded, "Red please stop, you're upsetting her."

Zoey took Nellie gently by the wrist and lead her away from the horny red diesel.  
The two diesels sought refuge in the station sitting alone in the dimly lit room as the GWWD staff had gone home for the day.

"Zoey? I'm sorry about Red, I guess they don't understand." The ginger apologized, hoping her best friend would be ok, however, Zoey was far from ok.

The girl's arms twitched with anger, her expression was of disgust and rage, her normally friendly brown eyes almost looked like they were pits of seering bubbling tar. She growled, as she felt her nose twitch, "Nellie... I'm not ok. I'm so livid, I... I need a break. I need one now..." the girl paced around the room, trying not to let the anger twist her form. She abruptly announced, "I need to go home. I... I have to leave you in-charge, Nell."

Sheer panic washed over the little diesel, she trembled at the thought, "B-b-but Zoey... I can't do your jobs, I have my own tasks. Please don't leave... please I need you here, we need you here!"

Zoey was too upset to listen and stormed out of the office, pulling up her gloves as she left.

Nellie saw Zoey's dispatch clipboard for the next day and trembled even more deeply, tears falling from her grey-eyes. She looked to the long distance radio in the office as if it would give her an answer, but there would be none. The little human girl laid down on the floor and cried, feeling her fingernails get sharper.

To Be Continued


	4. Runaway Rabbit and Nellie's Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey heads home for the night to assess the damage of her rage, and Nellie deals with the mysterious voice that taunts her.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name  
> Red is my OC  
> The mystery voice is a representation of a bad personality
> 
> Blue Angel is like the trainversion of a fairytale. Basically a CN Blue Devil named   
> Angel is trapped in the corner of a yard because of a GE with wicked and cruel ways, Blue Angel gets a visitor once awhile from a geep who promises to rescue Angel, but when Blue Angel accidentally mentions the Geep to the ES44, the ES44 has workers scratch up Angel's beautiful paint and cast her out onto the rails with no fuel. Eventually, the GP dented and battered from the altercation with the ES44, finds Blue Angel and they head to CEFX to be together

Zoey hurried along the streets, she pulled off one of her work gloves seeing that the progression of her corruption was increasing, instead of just white fur on the back of her fingers and near the wrist, it had now spread as far as the back of her palm. She turned over her hand to see that it was almost like the fur didn't grow on her finger tips nor palm. She got distracted while running and looking at her hand that she tripped on the curb, cursing in shock, but breaking into a sprint to catch herself. She bounded around the corner of Messier Street and looked at the old warehouse at the corner of Archibald and Messier. She fumbled with her keys in her pocket after slipping her glove back on, and scurried up to the door.   
Unlocking the door, entering, then closing it behind her, the humanoid GP30 leapt across the room onto her sofa. She laid down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. Severely angered that she wasn't respected and that Red, of all the ones there, didn't respect her.   
As Zoey sat up right she remembered Nellie and gasped quietly. The brunette looked down at the floor and sighed worriedly, "I hope she can manage without me..." then began to reason with herself, "I mean she's strong and smart, I'm sure she can do this... but... if I come back, Red will just."   
The diesel sat alone in the dark old warehouse, hoping that she could come up with an answer to her situation, but to no avail. Thus resorting to seeking comfort in a Costco size bag of baby carrots.

Meanwhile, a certain SW1001 was rageful towards Red. She hissed, "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT RED?! This is NEARLY just as bad as when we were going to show you the tapes but you just radioed to my old line and every railway wanted my batteries on a silverplate because I was trying to interpret what was said."

Red remarked, "Well excuse me, princess, but..."

Nellie HATED that nickname and charged at Red full tilt, turning into her human form at the last second and lunging at Red's face. 

The RS23 was startled but wasn't going anywhere and they asked meanly, "What, you going to hit me?"

"No." growled the feral SW1001, "I'm just really mad at you. Remember when Ellie intentionally got lost in the woods and me and a CP diesel had to radio to her instructions to get out of there? Well, what if Zoey doesn't come back? Also, would you do that to me, Red? Would you notch me if I didn't want to?"

They came back with as if this all was a joke, "Nell, you know, I'm a sick MLW. I have sick thoughts and feelings."

Nellie climbed down off the GWWD diesel's walk way and huffed angrily, "Zoey is one of the reasons I'm still alive you know..." the fox earred girl turned and stormed away.

Nellie reentered the office that Zoey left open, going over the paperwork so she could properly dispatch the others.   
"Aw fuck, why do I have to do CN again!?"

Suddenly, a little bubbly voice came in over the office radio, "Hello? Hello!!! It's Ellie, Ellie Miller-Dawson of the Mountain Preservation Line."

Nellie ran to the radio and picked up the receiver and pressed the button to talk, "Hey sis... You called at a REALLY bad time."

"Oh hey sis! What's the matter? That mean voice getting to you again?"

"Zoey... Zoey had to leave her own party and she might not come back."

The little diesel on the other end paused and was mortified, coming back with somberly, "That's really scary... I'm sorry that happened... I... I might not be good at helping with this kind of stuff, but... I do hope things work out."

The humanoid SW1001 replied happily, "Thanks Ell, that means a..."

The radio call disconnected, Ellie had been frightened away by what she heard.

Nellie felt all alone, and she sat down to look at the paperwork. 

After maybe 5 minutes, the radio came on again and a cold voice hissed, "Oh... Nellie, Nellie, Nellie. You little scrap heap... Hope your day today went alright, because I know tomorrow will be horrible." followed by a wicked cackle.

Nellie growled into the receiver, "One day we will find whoever the fuck this is and we will beat the snot out of you. Just not today because," the ginger diesel stopped herself.

"OH! Is there a problem? Don't tell me your precious Zoey isn't willing to help you."

Nellie didn't say a word leading the voice on the other end to cackle,

"My, my then Angel, You're in some hot water now."

Nellie felt her micro tail at the bottom of the small of her back start to increase as she barked back at the radio, "DON'T CALL ME THAT."

The voice teased and taunted, "BLUE ANGEL BLUE ANGEL, SHOW ME THY PAINT!"

Nellie shouted, "THAT'S ENOUGH!!!!" and ripped the plug out of the wall for the radio. She sunk to the ground exhausted before looking at her hands. The fingernails were sharper still. She needed to calm down.  
The little diesel girl made herself comfy on the visitor's couch after pulling her favourite plush rabbit out of her pocket and held it close to her heart. She softly spoke to the rabbit, "Oh I hope Zoey comes back."

To Be Continued


	5. Cute Gay Beans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli and Star kind of chill out while the party continues on, also enter Vesper
> 
> Vesper, Star, and Lazuli are my OCs  
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Rainy is the trainsona of a part of me  
> Zoey is the trainsona of a part of me

Star and Lazuli snuck away from the party, giggling and laughing as Star carried the little ginger girl on her shoulders.  
"Yoooo! We should do this and get a trench coat and sneak into Deadpool 3 when it comes out" Lazuli remarked with a laugh, thankful Star was strong enough to carry her.

"Yes! That would be heaps of fun, Laz!" Star giggled as she ran down the street adjacent to the GWWD yard.

Lazuli tapped Star on the shoulder and asked, "Hey... Stardust, where'd Zoe go? And Nellie? It's not like them to rest early on a party night."

"Not sure... Maybe they went for ice cream again?" 

"But which way is the ice cream place?" the humanoid GP20 answered

The two decided to take a break from their tomfoolery and they sat down on the grass looking up at the few stars visible now in the evening sky.

The blue clad girl pointed at the big dipper's brightest star and happily giggled, "That one is my favourite! No matter where I was, I could always see that one."

Lazuli laughed and smiled at her girlfriend, "Never change, Star."

Suddenly, the two girls were approached by a grey skinned, sharply dressed woman with long duochromatic hair and orange eyes. The woman got down to their level and kindly expressed, "Have you little ladies seen Zoey? Or Nellie? The party is running later than usual, and I'm concerned for the two since they're not here."

Star remarked with a laugh, "That's no problem, probably Rainy will clear everyone out."

Just as Star said that, the gates of the yard opened up and in rolled the black and orange CEMR diesel. He yelled, "ALRIGHT FOLKS, PARTY'S OVER. I have to get my work done, get lost please."

All the other engines who weren't from the yard looked disappointed as they all began to make their way out after Rainy unblocked the way.

The pink and ginger humanoid diesel remarked, "Well, you girls sure know how this yard works."

"Yes we do, Ms. Vesper." Star answered smiling happily as she began to pick some dandelions.

To Be Continued


	6. Dispatcher Nellie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie does her best at dispatching her fellow workers, also yay for Rockie the Toad!!!!
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name  
> Star is my OC  
> Lazuli is my OC  
> Rock Toad for best diesel //shot

The next morning arrived, the 5:30 am sunrise awakening Nellie from her slumbers.  
She looked around the old station which had been changed into a head office. Seeing the unplugged radio, and that she was holding her plush, she realized last night was not a nightmare, but indeed reality.  
The ginger stood up and put the rabbit back into her pocket before grabbing the clipboard and heading out to the yard to wait for the others to awaken so she could dispatch them.

Rainy, who was in what was supposed to be a humanoid form, stretched himself out, his claws retracting from the now-for-scrap gondola car, and a yawn coming from his opened crocodile-like mouth. He turned to look at Nellie and he remarked cheekily, "Hey troublemaker , where's cotton-tail?"

Nellie bluntly replied, too tired to come up with something, "Last night someone upset her and I'm in charge... Don't you dare call my old line again while I'm out or I swear to EMD I'll go feral on you and take out your batteries."

The charcoal and orange bipedal crocodilian-like being laughed, "Mood, mood... Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. I'm too tired." And with that he climbed into the gondola car and curled up. 

"Night, Troublemaker." He teased before drifting off to sleep part of the morning.

Nellie walked to the front of the yard anxiously, hoping the others would listen to her. 

Star and Lazuli awoke, together as daylight reached their closed eyes.  
"Morning sleepy geepy." The two said in unison to each other before giggling.

Nellie waited at the head of the yard for Lazuli's driver to show up, due in fact to that Lazuli couldn't drive herself since 2012 when she was stripped of her original mechanisms and repowered.

The GP20 ECO looked down at her pilot to see her toad sitting looking up at her. She softly spoke to the little creature, "Morning, Rockie."

The little stonespeckled looking toad hopped up closer to Lazuli's face and sat right close to her. 

Star glanced down at the little toad and asked to Lazuli, "Oh hey, there's Rockie. Hey where is he from anyways?"

Lazuli laughed and remarked, "Well, I found him once in BC. And, I guess he just took a liking to me and when I was sold off from there he followed with."

"Oh.. but.. like where does he go during the night?"

"That small swamp in the corner of the yard or my cab." the little geep happily answered, looking down still at her pet.

Soon enough, Annanova, Lazuli's driver arrived, not quite in industry standard clothes, but it was 30 celcius out and the humidity was high, so in those cases hardy denim capris were allowed.

"Morning, Ann." Lazuli greeted to the short albino woman.

"Hi Laz, ready to roll?" Annanova asked friendily to the sentient machine that she had operated for about half a year now.

"You bet!" Lazuli answered excitedly as her driver hopped up onto her catwalk and into the cab.

Nellie saw the two young diesels approach her for dispatching.

Star greeted the short grey-skinned ginger, "Morning, Ms. Nellie. Where's Zoey today?"

"She's still at home, so I will be dispatching you and Lazuli to your day at BNSF doing track inspections."

Lazuli's compressor sighed as she felt a little disappointed, "But... Zoey is like my big sis... It's not the same to start the day without seeing her."

Nellie reassured the action red diesel kindly, "Well, I'm pretty sure she will be back later and then you can tell her about how fun your day was with Star."

Lazuli's large green eyes twinkled with excitement as she trilled, "YEAH! That sounds awesome! Thanks Nell! Man that's going to be LEET!"

Star looked almost sideways at her girlfriend with a giggle, "No one says Leet anymore, Laz."

"Oh hush, you know I play Neopets."

The two young diesels had a giggle before Nellie manually keyed the code into the yard to let them go on their way.  
"Have a safe and fun day, you too!" the humanoid EMD SW1001 remarked as she watched the little diesels head on their way excitedly.

"We will, Ms. Nellie!" Star replied, her voice as bubbly as ever and her eyes sparkled with joy as she rolled out of the yard following along her little GP20ECO girlfriend.

Nellie looked at the empty tracks now. It was her time to go out, not that she wanted to, but, she had to. Another day at CN... great... what could possibly go wrong besides everything? She stood with both feet on the rails and focused deeply, her form shifting back into her normal SW1001 format. She trundled out of the yard, hearing over her radio a hiss, "Ohhhh today will be a horrific one, just trust me, scrapheap." 

To Be Continued


	7. A Huge F*cking Blunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> TW// suicide attempt, abusive language, anger, suicide idealization, etc
> 
> Nellie snaps and due to everything, she decides she doesn't want to live anymore in a really dark moment.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality that's part of me  
> Debby, Slade, Northie, Red, and Tracy are all my OCs
> 
> Northie's inspiration irl came from a situation not tied into this day, but like, I just wanted to add that to Nellie's character arc in the first part of this series

Nellie approached CN, more worry in her alternator than ever since Zoey wasn't around and because Red, one of her best friends, did what they did last night. She also was anxious about the day today, and if she didn't get the students to switch the cars right, Tracy would see on Monday her mistakes and it would spell out BIG trouble.  
She trundled into the yard and was greeted by her mom that was feeling much better now.  
"Morning, Nellie. How did you sleep?" Debby the SD75i asked curiously, knowing the answer.  
Nellie giggled and answered as she did when her mom asked it that way, "With my eyes closed!"  
Debby laughed and smiled at the little switcher before saying worriedly, "You don't seem cheerful, are you ok?"

Nellie huffed and her compressor kicked on out of worry and not wanting to say, she rolled past as she retorted, "I'll be ok, Mom, but thanks."   
The little switcher didn't bother to stop to talk to the Dash 9 this morning, she just wanted to get the day over with. 

Nellie was throttled around by the students trying to do the work as fast as possible, she broke the rules and helped them with some tasks, but she was having a miserable time switching cars around.   
The SW1001 was radioed by the CN yard master to go to the larger yard up the line to take the set of cars for the practice run, to which she agreed, and by agreed that meant that she was driven there regardless of her emotions, she was okay with it though, after all, the lease would mean that Zoey could treat her to ice cream again, or maybe even takeout. 

Nellie, as she entered Symmington Yard looked around in awe at everything, impressed by the size and sheer amount of diesels... that is until, she saw Northie the BCR Dash 8.   
"Well, well well, if it isn't the lawbreaker." the Dash 8 numbered 4602 huffed as she made eye contact with the, in-comparison, pint-sized diesel.

"Look, I'm trying to move past that. So please let me do my work, North."

The red white and blue diesel, who was normally polite wouldn't have it and retorted, "I heard about the Esquimalt Yard Incident. About how you derailed 3 grain cars, broke a gondola, your coupler, and then screamed at a poor innocent diesel. That's not ok. And then you radioed her MONTHS after then with a diesel that probably was just you. That's not right. You're a criminal, ya know. That's why you're banned from entering or going back there."

Nellie's compressor went off, and she mumbled aggressively, "Look here. I really don't appreciate diesels like you, talking to me like this, making me feel like I should be scrap."

"Oh... now you're pulling the suicidal pup-scrap, OH, and on top of that, didn't you tell a diesel not to date the one you yelled at?" The BCR engine teased meanly.

"For your big fucking information, you oversized toaster, I said to not make the same mistakes I did."

"That's the exact same as saying to not date her, WOW, you really are a piece of work."

Nellie wouldn't have it anymore, she went with her student drivers to drop off the cars and make her way back to the practice yard.

The SW1001 seered with anger as she trundled up the line, she received a radio call from Slade, he radioed in, "Nell, I need you to come down to the line by Bournais road, I stalled out again."

Nellie replied calmly, "Right away, Dad." Her anger level rose higher, her bell clanging loudly and far more aggressively than her usual cheery ring as she rolled along.

When Nellie arrived, she saw the Dash 9 sitting on the rails waiting. 

He said to the little switcher, "Do you know the procedure to reboost a fellow diesel?"

"N-no I don't." the little diesel answered worriedly.

"WELL, you should! So I'm going to walk you through it." Slade answered.

The SW1001 bit her tongue, she wanted to state back that she wasn't in human form so she couldn't do this herself, so her student drivers tried to work with Slade's drivers to get Slade boosted.

Slade's batteries were corroded which caused some of the problem, and Nellie's bell clanged a bit, she was irritated because this was more of an SD's job, and she was much smaller and weaker than an SD unit. 

"Why isn't it turning over?" Slade hollered at the humans and Nellie, "Come on, I have a train to pull!"

Slade wouldn't start, and they had to radio for Debby to take him back to the yard before collecting his train. 

The little switcher felt like her coolant was no more and that her fuel was bubbling with rage. She wanted to get back to the training yard and work there instead of this stuff.

Once Debby picked up Slade and then the train cars to take, Nellie was finally on her way, doing her best to calm down, but nothing was working. Normally, she could radio Zoey and Zoey and her would do a gentle counting exercise or just talk a bit. However, due to circumstances, the black, red, and white switcher wasn't capable of such things and just got grumpier and more irritable still.

When she arrived at the yard, she saw a CitiRail diesel dropping off more cars to switch, while no one was there to accept the load. 

That was it, the little diesel had it and she boiled completely over, her student drivers unable to control her, she aggressively rolled up to the diesel numbered 1212 and shouted, "HEY! You're blocking the line heading East, that's literally a rail hazard, and how come the yard managers of CN didn't radio us that you were bringing it?!" She felt aggressive, her horn honked loudly out of rage and she aggressively shunted cars out of the way so other diesels could access if need be. She got so angry she couldn't even properly count the grain cars and oil tankers. She hissed at the same time as her compressor, "You know what, today has been so crappy, I should just make my way down to Youngston and be made into 1001 paperclips."

The CitiRail diesel didn't say anything, despite being horrified by an aggressive SW1001 who was extremely off her trucks with anger. He finished his job and left the yard. Nellie then radioed to the head of the yard about there being no notice, the yard manager laughed and replied, "Cry me a river, Nell, no one is hurt, just go do your job, I'll talk to the diesel."

Nellie's engine sank at that, all would be found out. She started to devise a plan to actually go to Youngston, but... that would take too long. So she headed into the repair shed, where no one else was there and came across some fuel additive, which in small quantities was fine, but larger concentrations of it could actually eat through an engine's fuel tank and presumably kill them. Nellie stared at the additive, worried what would happen. Her radio came on, but only she could hear the voice on the other end for some reason.   
The mysterious and abusive voice cackled, "Now you've done it, well, best end it now before.."  
Suddenly, Slade came in over Nellie's radio disconnecting the call between the mystery being and Nellie and yelled at Nellie, "WHAT IN GODS NAME DO YOU THINK YOU YOU ARE?! DO YOU NEED ME TO REMIND YOU WHERE YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU'RE MEANT TO BE DOING, SWITCHER?!"  
Nellie stammered, "What I did was wrong and I'm sorry... and.."

"SORRY ISN'T GOING TO CUT IT! You know your fucking fuel rations that Debby and I make sure you have plenty of? We're cutting those. Less exploring you can do on your off time, which you shouldn't have. RESPECTABLE ENGINES CAN CONTROL THEIR EMOTIONS ALWAYS! WE ARE MACHINES AND HUMANS MADE US TO TAKE ORDERS! AND I SPOKE TO THE YARDMANAGER, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SCRAP YOUR SORRY CAB, ALTHOUGH THEY SHOULD!"

Nellie sobbed uncontrollably, the students were mortified and fled because this was no longer a nice day of training.

"YOU NEED TO STOP ACTING LIKE SUCH A FUCKING FACTORY-FRESH AND BE LIKE A NORMAL DIESEL. MAYBE WE SHOULD STRIP YOU OF THAT LITTLE BABY-ISH HEART ON YOUR SIDES?!"

Nellie pleaded, "No sir, I'm sorry Dad, d-don't take my hearts away, Dad"

Slade yelled over the radio, "Oh and if any engine asks, you're not my daughter, I'm ashamed that I took you in only for you to repay me by making the practice yard a fucking joke! Now get back to work BEFORE I HAVE THE BCRs DRAG YOU OUT TO THE SCRAPYARD SCREAMING!"   
While the Dash 9 didn't actually want Nellie to be scrapped, he was so livid at her and disappointed and the only way he could show it was with anger.

Nellie turned human, but her upset nature made her only half way between, her skin felt like steel, and her hands were the rusted colour of her couplers. She didn't care, she grabbed a bottle of the additive and chugged it like a drink. Because anything a diesel eats when human turns into fuel and is proportionate to their form, Nellie therefor ingested 3 times the safe amount of additive. She then transformed back and got back to work while her insides began to ache.

To Be Continued


	8. The Line Between Life and Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> TW// vomitting, suicidal feelings, depression
> 
> It's a pun. The LINE ie a rail line.  
> Just a continuation from the last chapter.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Rainy is the trainsona of the part of me in my head  
> Slade, and Debby are both my OCs  
> Piper belongs to RTEX

An old gondola car full of clawmarks and holes arrived at the CanDo Yard mid afternoon, the diesels all looking as it was pulled past by RTEX 4994, better known as Piper, an energetic GP 38-2. 

"What in Christ's name could have done that to that car?" inquired a CEMR SD40-2 

When suddenly, out popped a completely well rested and ready bipedal charcoal crocodile dressed in CEMR clothes. 

"Rainy, what the fuck." yelled a former CN Geep, who rolled back a bit due to being startled.

Rainy just laughed, "Hahahaha, got you all this time, dweebs. Now then," he got out of the gondola car, stood on the rails and morphed back into a diesel, "What does a croc gotta do to get some fuel around here?"

Meanwhile, Nellie was starting to feel the effects of the additive. Her speech was a bit slurry, she couldn't remember how to drive herself at some intervals, and she started to hear the voice again coming through her radio. The voice was telling her she was doing a good deed by agreeing to die which then switched over to asking the switcher why she wasn't dead yet.  
Nellie switched her radio to the frequency that she was barred from radioing to, which was to a diesel a long ways from her. The weakened SW1001 softly spoke into the radio, "I'm sorry for all I have done wrong. Goodbye." and disconnected her radio as she started to feel unwell.

Nellie went onto a siding, and felt something was wrong. Suddenly, she began to cough back up through her mouth the fuel additive as well as some diesel fuel. It was a truly painful thing to experience for the little diesel as it continued for the next 4 minutes.

After what seemed like forever, she trundled over to the refuelling station, and had one of the yard workers give her some replacement fuel so she could continue to work. 

Little did Nellie know, that her message she sent out, was heard, and a warning was spread through out a large network of diesels in case they came across Nellie so they could intervene.  
As the day passed along and Nellie worked, she started to realize she was silly in trying to kill herself, and that she was in the wrong.   
She still was terrified of the repercussions and if Zoey would come back, but she didn't want to die right now, she would miss Ellie too much, and her mom, and Lazuli and Star. She made her way out of the yard not even wanting to make eye contact with Slade who stopped her anyways.  
When she did look at Slade, she began crying tears of excruciating guilt while trembling on her trucks.  
Debby was there with Slade, seeing her daughter trembling with fear. Nellie blubbered directionlessly, "I'm sorry for ruining your image and your yard and for saying and doing what I did and I'm sorry that I'm a bad daughter."  
Slade sternly spoke, "When I was new I made mistakes like these too, you need to learn from them and maybe need to get involved in competitive switching."  
Nellie pleaded, "I wouldn't be good at that though.."  
"but how will you get out your anger? Regardless you're to get back on Emotive suppressants again, and promise not to do this again. I was ashamed I adopted you, and don't do that ever again, there will be consequences, but right now, take some time and go for a trundle around it might make you feel better."  
Debby remarked, "But she's upset, that might be dangerous to travel while crying.."  
"Deb, it's for the good of her."  
Nellie, without making eye contact agreed and headed up the line to head back to the GWWD.

The SW1001 travelled along the train tracks headed west, wondering if the remaining additive would kill her or not. Part of her didn't care, but part of her wanted it to be so little that it wouldn't do anything harmful to her.

To Be Continued.


	9. A Kind Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie arrives back from work and, with some guidance from an old friend, makes the right decision to make sure she's ok.  
> Special thanks to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart for giving the greenlight to have her trainsona, Jackie the GP30 make an appearance in this story.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Lazuli, Star, Red, and Dusk are my OCs  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to esquimaltnanaimo on deviantart

Nellie reached the rail bridge by Archibald Street, focused deeply and became humanoid, however she noticed a few changes, her ears were more pronounced, her finger nails were sharper and the little nub at her lower back was even more of a tiny tail now. She sighed as she felt with her hands the extent of her distortion and in annoyance muttered, "You gotta be fucking kidding me."   
She decided to stop loitering on the tracks and slid down the hillside to Mission road below before walking along side the tiny CP railyard to get to the GWWD.

She wondered if her friends would find out and how little they would think of her, swearing to not say nor tell anyone. The ginger haired freckly woman made her way into the yard via the human gate and noticed that the station office light was on and the door was open. She curiously entered and saw Star and Lazuli in their humanoid forms near the radio, looking concerned with tears in their eyes.

Lazuli looked up at Nellie and cried thankfully yet still in a sad tone, "OH THANK GOD YOU'RE ALIVE, We were worried sick about you!"

Nellie felt severely embarrassed, these two were practically children and they were the first to hear about the SW1001's radio message.

"Miss Nellie, why are you so sad that you want to disappear?" The blue clad girl inquired as she looked at the long haired ginger with saddened eyes.

A voice came in over the radio, a voice rather familiar to all 3 of them, it commanded but in a gentle way, "Girls, I need to talk to Nellie alone. Is that alright?"

Both girls responded politely, "Yes Miss London."

Nellie was shocked and shook fearfully, the radio message WAS heard by whom she sent it to and now she was scared she was in BIG TROUBLE.

Lazuli and Star left the office leaving Nellie alone with EN 5000 over the office radio. 

"I'm sorry I tried to die... again.." Nellie somberly stated, worried what the response would be to it.

"Nell, how did you think I would feel to hear that you were going to die. I'm really not impressed. So tell me what all sparked this?"

The SW1001 took a deep breath in and explained everything to the one she used to be close to and idolized, crying a bit as she explained.

"Now then, I want you to make your way to the Transcona shops, young lady. Just because it came back up doesn't mean you're in the clear. Radio me when you get there." The GP30 answered, stern yet concernedly.

Nellie huffed annoyedly and agreed reluctantly, as she was tired and just wanted to go to shed, heading to the tracks outside of the yard and following them onto CN's line into Transcona.

"Hey, J? Sorry this all happened, it's just that..." The black, red, and white switcher quietly muttered to her radio but was interrupted.

The kind yet firm voice retorted, "Nellie, I do hope you're hurrying there as fast as you can to get your engine flushed. You shouldn't die like this nor hurt yourself."

Nellie picked up her speed, despite it hurting a bit because the remnants of the additive weren't cooperating with her. She replied back to the first Canadian-made GP30, "I'm going the max speed I can. I mean it."

"Let me know when you're in a bay, alright?"

"I will, I promise."

When the little BUNX switcher arrived at the CN shops she explained to the shop staff that she took too much additive in hopes she would pass away, and that she needed to be pumped.

The workers began their efforts to pump Nellie's fuel lines to prevent further damage to her insides.

"They're clearing me out now, Jackie." Nellie said quietly into her radio, hoping that this could save her.

The switcher's radio relayed back to her the words of the British Columbian diesel, "Alright, promise me, Nellie, that you'll remain alive, alright?"

"I promise."

A worker approached Nellie and calmly said to Nellie, "We just checked how much additive you had in there. Your engine might be a little sore for a bit, but you didn't take enough to harm you since you had quite a bit of build up. We have to keep you overnight to make sure you're ok."

Nellie excitedly radioed back, "I'll be ok, I'm so happy! Thank you, Jackie!"

Jackie however didn't respond, the radio call was disconnected. 

Nellie tried again, but she couldn't reconnect to the signal. The shop walls were starting to interfere with the call. So the little switcher just sat in silence as the workers cleared out her lines and made sure she wasn't damaged from her silly actions.

As night fell, Nellie was finally cleared of health and was placed in sort of a holding tank shop with a few other diesels who were also depressed.

Nellie glanced over at who was in the next bay and lo-and-behold it was Dusk, brother to Vesper, but he instead worked for CN.   
She plucked up courage and asked worried she was sounding rude, "Hey, Dusk, you going through a tough time too?"

The lights came on above the diesels due to an activated timer, distracting the SD60 completely. He stared upwards at the light completely in awe of it.

"Helloooo, Dusk.. Dusky..." Nellie called to the diesel to the left of her.

He snapped back to reality and focused on the SW1001 and remarked, "Sorry, what did you say?"

Nellie joked, "Pfft, Dusk, the way you got distracted by the lights I would have thought you were a deer."

"Oh, well, I am part deer," he answered in a very matter-of-fact tone causing the little switcher to his right to feel embarrassed. He saw this and continued, "Its ok, it's nothing to get your cables crossed over. I'm a little corrupted from my pessimism. Vesper says that I should just be positive, but, that doesn't seem to help. Anyways, you should be careful, most engines that come here to this area of the shops can get rather corrupted by their depression and pain and anger. It's not fun to be corrupted."

Nellie looked down and felt embarrassed that she was getting 'the lecture' after she already was corrupted further. She huffed annoyedly, "You know, Dusk, I'm aware of how distortion of the human form works. Anyways... I want to go to sleep now."

Dusk replied gently, "Now now, Nellie. I know you're not happy with today nor that you're here, whatever that reason is, but just be glad that you're here and not in the scrap heap. A lot of engines would miss you. I know Zoey would."

Nellie sunk down in her trucks remembering Zoey wasn't back and might not be back yet to the yard. She needed to talk to Red, she needed to convince Zoey back. She needed to get back to GWWD and try to run BUNX. She just needed to work up strength, something while she had in the sense of motive-power, not so much in the emotional department.

To Be Continued


	10. Through the Eyes of Child Engines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli and Star talk about their feelings
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Lazuli and Star are my OCs

Star and Lazuli sat looking up at the night sky on the steps of the GWWD office. 

The short-haired red head stopped looking up at the stars with her girlfriend and sighed, "Stardust? Do you think Nellie will be ok?"

"Hmm?" the dark haired girl remarked, adjusting her big blue bow on her ponytail.

Lazuli restated, "Ya know... Nellie. Remember? Our old friend told us that she tried to die today. I really hope Nellie will be ok. I mean, until Zoey gets back, she's all we got. Aunt Patty can't run BUNX."

Star looked deeply into Lazuli's intensely green saddened eyes and reassured innocently, "The fact she listened to Ms. London is proof that Nellie wanted to live. While we might not understand the why, the important thing is that she wants to live."

Lazuli started choking up and hugged her blue-clad girlfriend. The young redhead sobbed, "You're so deep yet hopeful, Star... Don't change. Please."

Star giggled and kissed Lazuli's tears away before hugging the humanoid GP20-ECO tighter, "Oh Laz, you just gotta trust the universe. Eventually it'll be ok. It just needs time."

Lazuli nodded, she did her best to stop crying. She went to stand up like she saw Star do many times but her legs didn't work. She laughed through her remaining tears, "Stardust? I need a hand up."

Star stood up, picked up Lazuli under the armpits gently and placed her girlfriend on her shoulders. The humanoid GE-EP AC44 carried Lazuli back down the stairs of the station office to her wheelchair at the base of the stairs so they could go and fall asleep on the yard sidings.

To Be Continued


	11. Hopping Mad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie runs from an officer, Zoey is getting more corrupted and gets a little angry, and it's 1AM.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the part of me in my head  
> Red is my OCs

Nellie was permitted to leave the shops earlier than anticipated, 1 AM CST.   
The little switcher made her way down the line, the only light available for the little switcher on the drizzly night being her own ditch and head lamps. She hurried down the line as to not get in the way of any late night trains heading through the Forks.   
Once reaching the rail bridge near the CP yard, she switched forms and slid down the hillside as she had many times before.  
The short ginger ran down Archibald Street in the dark, terrified if there were any bad humans lurking about that could harm her. Within half the distance between the sets of lights, the little humanoid diesel grew weak and short of breath, she huffed and puffed to herself, "I... should have... just.. taken... the rails..." She cut through the an emptied lot, which was a mistake as a patrolling officer saw her.

"HEY! YOU!" He shouted as he shined his flashlight upon Nellie and began sprinting after her. 

Nellie cursed and began to run away, darting in between train cars in the adjacent CP yard. 

"I WILL FIND YOU!"

Nellie found a spot close by on the tracks and focused hard, trying to remain calm, shifting back into her diesel format, hoping that would save her.

The officer did find Nellie, but, he was confused. He looked up at the SW1001 and inquired, "Hey... You see a short stocky hooligan run by?"

"I saw nothing, sir. Sorry to be not of help."

The patrol was disappointed, tipped his hat to the diesel and remarked, "Thanks anyways, Miss, happy hauling." before walking away.

Nellie was relieved and trundled down the line until she was at the crossing at Messier Rd, she changed forms, not caring who saw, and darted to the old small warehouse at the intersection a few feet ahead of her.

She knocked on the door of 404 Archibald, hoping Zoey would answer the door, and thankfully for the little diesel, the door was opened by Zoey in some red and white striped pajamas. Nellie froze for a second and stared at her dispatcher and best friend, befuddled by the outfit choice. 

Zoey yawned, "What are you doing up so late, Nell? What's wrong?"

Nellie took a deep breath in and began to explain, "I had a super bad day, and then it got worse and I panicked and tried to kill myself and then your sister told me to go get my lines flushed, so I did... and I need you back at the yard. Please."

Zoey stared angrily at the 5'3" grey skinned girl before her and pulled Nellie inside and shut the door.

"Nice CP pjs, Zoe." Nellie tried to turn the conversation.

Zoey stared at Nellie sternly and remarked, "You tried to kill yourself... Didn't we agree that if the time came we could go together so you wouldn't be alone and it would maybe convince you to not die."

The ginger looked down ashamedly, she tried to apologize and explain, but then the brunette remarked, "AND another thing, RED COULD STILL TRY TO NOTCH ME OR TRY ENCOURAGE ME TO NOTCH WITH THEM EVEN IF I DON'T WANT TO!"

Nellie felt so small, she fell back on a chair. 

Zoey saw what she had caused Nellie to feel. The humanoid GP30 sank down and sat on the floor, feeling horrible and apologized deeply, "I... I'm so so sorry, Nellie. I... I would be so lost without you. I'm lost without seeing you around... but... I don't want to go back."

The ginger pleaded, "B-but.. what if I get them to apologize? W-would that help?"

Zoey looked away, not certain, then responding once she made a decision, "If it's sincere... I'll accept. For the sake of BUNX and you."

Nellie hugged Zoey and then glanced at the arms of Zoey, not realizing that it was fur spreading on her body. The ginger remarked, "Hey Zoe, your skin looks a little pale, you alright?"

Zoey pulled back and looked at her arms and then suggested in a little bit of a pushy way, ".... It's getting late, Nell, you should go get some rest. Come back tomorrow with Red when they're ready to apologize."

Nellie saw herself out, but was deeply worried for her best friend, but, the little switcher was exhausted and figured tomorrow was a Saturday and with her free time she could ask Red to apologize.

Zoey paced as she felt the fur that was now going from her finger tips up to her elbows. She huffed annoyedly to herself, "Now my body hair is corrupted too!? Greeeeaaat..." The humanoid GP30 made her way into the bathroom and got her body trimmer, if she could at least control the fur maybe she could keep up the illusion that she wasn't as far along as Nellie was.

To Be Continued


	12. Red-y to Apologize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Red mends things with Zoey who has a new look, also Nellieis awkward about change and not keen on people touching her human form's hair.
> 
> Yay for bad pun again
> 
> Red is my OC  
> Zoey is the trainsona of a separate personality that is part of me  
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo of deviantart

Nellie awoke later in the morning, in the station office upon the couch, hoping she could convince Red to apologize for what she said and indirectly caused. The humanoid diesel looked at her reflection, her eyes had dark circles under them and her long braid looked frizzy and a little tangled. She huffed and softly said to herself, "I look like shit, well, better talk to Red in diesel form or they'll pity me instead of listen."  
Nellie hugged her white rabbit plush tightly before putting it into her pocket, and then she headed outside into the yard and walking around looking to see where Red was.

Outside of the sheds, the GWWD RS23 numbered 502, was just admiring the morning sunrise, in awe of the orange and pink hues.  
"Red sky at morning, take it as a warning." A quite voice stated beside the MLW switcher.

Red started back a bit and noticed the SW1001 beside them. They remarked thankfully, "Oh, it's just you, Nellie. I'm glad you didn't die, but I need to ask you something."

Nellie responded quietly, "Sure, I'm sorry I didn't say."

Red questioned a bit harshly, "Why did I have to hear this from Jackie when you could have told me?"

The little EMD switcher took a deep breath in as her compressor kicked on, embarrassedly but truthfully answering, "Because I was scared and upset by what you did on July 10th. You really hurt my feelings and Zoey's with that joking. I know it's true, Red, but you crossed the boundaries and now Zoey is refusing to come back... I boiled over because she wasn't there to help me and I was frantic. It doesn't excuse my actions but, it didn't help."

Red sunk down on their trucks realizing how deep that it hurt Nellie and Zoey. The red and white diesel exhaled and concentrated deeply, shifting forms to be down to a humanoid form with two protruding horns on either side of their head and a red and white spotted tail, Red said then softly, "I'm sorry Nellie, can you forgive me for being such an ass?"  
Nellie went human and hugged Red and answered happily, "Of course. Now let's bring Zoey back."

The bovid-humanoid crossmix diesel walked with Nellie out of the yard and down to the small warehouse inhabited by the GP30. 

Nellie knocked on the door and waited as Red stood behind her, albeit uselessly because Red was much taller than Nellie when in human form.

Zoey opened the door and caused Nellie quite a shock. Normally the GP30's humanoid form had brunette puffy pigtails, but her hair was flat ironed and tied back in a singular ponytail, the ends of her long bangs dyed a bright blue while matching blue extensions made it look like she dyed the ends of her brunette ponytail.

"Different!" Nellie awkwardly blurted out, but for once, this was a change that she wasn't uncomfortable with, continuing just as awkwardly, "It looks cute!"

Zoey laughed and remarked, "I got bored this morning, and went to go add a little more blue to my human form. Glad you like it, Nell, normally changes make you all quiet and worried."

Nellie laughed sheepishly waaaaay too much to cover up her embarrassment. She was pushed gently out of the way by Red.

Zoey aggressively stared at Red and asked defensively, "What are you doing here?"

Red solemnly answered, "You see, Zoe. I inadvertently caused Nellie to almost kill herself with my stupid and selfish actions during your party. You were joking and I took it too far and became serious. I'm really truly sorry. But you can't stay here, the engines need you back at BUNX."

Nellie got on her knees and grovelled, despite usually hating kneeling on the ground, "Pretty pretty please, Zoey. It's not the same without you."

Zoey's heart was touched, however she remained firm, sternly responding, "Only if you don't joke like that, Red. Alright?"

The nonbinary red clad humanoid diesel responded, "Understood, now is there anything I can do to make it right?"

Zoey thought a bit. She softly offered, "Could Nellie take the district train on Monday instead of you? That might make things a little better."

Red responded gratefully, "I'll see what I can do," they continued, "I'm heading back to the yard, you coming?"

Zoey placed her hand on Nellie's right shoulder and responded gently with, "In a bit, I just want to talk to Nellie shortly."

Red nodded and headed on their way back to the GWWD yard.

Nellie came inside with Zoey. The buck-toothed grey skinned woman assessed Nellie and gently remarked, "You look a bit messy. I know you asked me to never touch, but I think you need a little help."

The ginger looked down embarrassedly, not wanting to admit she neglected herself for a few days. She muttered quietly, "I guess..."

Zoey gently squatted a tiny bit to make eye contact with the greyish blue eyed girl, asking softly, "Do you trust me, Nellie. I won't try to fix you up if you don't trust me."

She thought about it, no one for months besides herself touched her human form's hair. She was rather reluctant but, what harm could that cause, plus she looked like a mess. The little humanoid SW1001 nodded and unwove her braid.

"Alright, it'll be done in a jiffy and we can go back to the yard." A shortly-lived optimistic Zoey answered as she picked up a comb to try to detangle the poor switcher's hair.

However what followed was extremely awkward and uncomfortable for the both of them, more so for Nellie. Needless to say that was the last time that happened.


	13. Clearly Not A Haredresser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey's not that skilled with a comb as she thinks she is and Nellie regrets her descision  
> One more lame pun  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality residing in me  
> Nellie is my trainsona

Zoey, started to try to brush Nellie's knotted copper hair half way up and had snagged a big tangle. 

"ow! What the heck!" Nellie cried out. The humanoid SW1001 held her head for a few seconds, she didn't like Zoey's methods.

"sorry, sorry. Right.. Umm start low." The humanoid GP30 combed the little knots at the bottom carefully.

Zoey still snagged some knots, Nellie remained tense for a solid two minutes to try to cope with the pain.

Nellie sat silently remembering a while back when someone else combed her humanoid form's hair. She tried to not get her thoughts confused, she pinched her right wrist as a distraction.

"Does it hurt that bad?"

"No... Just.. trying not to remember the past..."

"Like.....?"

"Remembering similar situations that were a tad... intimate... Repressed memories I never want to remember." the humanoid SW1001 turned red with embarrassment to even mention it

".... Let's not go there." Zoey continued to comb out all the knots quickly but gently, so she could stop tormenting her friend.

The ginger winced as a knot got snagged the wrong way "Ow! Who taught you to brush hair like this?"

Zoey gently rubbed where she thought that it pulled, softly quelling, "Sorry, sorry... I'll be more gentle," not answering Nellie's question, embarrassed that she never really learned how to properly brush curls painlessly.

A few minutes had passed and Zoey finally was combing Nellie's hair completely gently, not just because she's finishing up the work but because the ginger tresses felt so silky and nice to the touch.

Nellie asked, worriedly, she wanted this to stop as her mind worked hard to keep all memories repressed, "You almost done?"

Zoey responded absent mindedly, with a smile in her voice, "Your hair is really nice. Gosh, it's just so sof..."

Nellie pulled away briskly, freeing her detangled flowing hair away from her friend. She plucked up off the coffee table her pink hair bow clip before she quickly braided it herself. The humanoid switcher anxiously replied, "Yeah, no. I think that's enough combing for like.... forever... Thanks but... just... please don't do that again."

Zoey nodded and responded apologetically, "I promise I won't even bring it up."

Nellie fled from Zoey's home to go back to the GWWD office so she could distract herself to keep any memories repressed that she didn't want to remember.


	14. OMFG We Should Totally Build That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey and Star begin working on the ultimate project that will be over 9000 on the awesomeness scale.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the dissociative personality residing in my head  
> Lazuli is my OC

Zoey, after spending time with her fellow diesels during the day, went back that evening to the industrial building she rented to live in and use as a home office. 

There was a knock at the door suddenly. 

The humanoid GP30 set down her bowl of strawberries to go see who was at the door. To her surprise, when she opened the door, it was Lazuli. 

"Hi Lazuli. Did you wheel yourself all the way here?" the head of BUNX inquired as she looked at her wheelchair-bound little sister.

Lazuli laughed as she answered, "Star wheeled me down the gravel road part because I kept having trouble. Can I hang out with you?"

Zoey picked up Lazuli by the midsection and brought in the little redhead, sitting her down on the couch by the large bowl of berries before going to bring in the wheelchair.

The green eyed girl helped herself to some strawberries, marveling at their sweet taste when she tried one, "MMmmMM! These are so good. Why can't diesel fuel taste nice like this?"

Zoey laughed as she parked the wheelchair by the couch before sitting beside Lazuli and remarked, "Humans don't understand that we have a sense of taste."

Lazuli took another few berries as she asked, "Zoe? How come you have a different last name than your sister?"

Zoey was caught off guard by the question. She adjusted her glasses before looking down with kind eyes at her sibling and softly explained, "You see, Laz. Humans sometimes give us different names. I started out from the factory with a completely different first name that no one ended up using for me after I started being myself at CP. Because of my swiftness, and because my driver at the time was Ukrainian, he chose a new last name for me. Krolik, since my nickname was "The Rabbit"

Lazuli glanced at her sister's hands which were uncovered and noticed her hands were slightly paw like but didn't say anything regarding it. She made eye contact with her sister again and asked, "What's my last name?"

Zoey patted Lazuli on the head and replied, "Whatever you want it to be, little sis."

Laz looked around the room curiously as she ate the strawberries she was holding, noticing a drawing desk near by with blue pages and white papers scattered around on it. The ginger inquisitively and excitedly said, "Sis, what you have you been drawing?"

Zoey huffed annoyedly at the thought of her failed drawings and responded, "It's just a failed project. Firstly, I'm not good with dimensions, second, I don't know how to make the gadgets for it, I only know how to put the suit part together."

"That doesn't really tell me what that is though."

Zoey got up and brought over the drawings, it was for a mechsuit with a jetpack, foot and hand pulse emitters. A set of laser palms, and a dark matter charger., Hyperhearing headphones that also worked as a Jacob's ladder to charge up high voltage attacks.

Lazuli stared in awe. She knew a LOT about technology, and she felt a chill of excitement just thinking about if she was given the chance to make this. She set down the papers on the table before her and excitedly exclaimed, "OH MY FREAKING GMD! We should build that! No, correction, we HAVE to build that. What is it for anyways, ya know, besides being cool?"

Zoey laughed and patted her sister on the head gently as she explained, "Well, Nellie keeps hearing this voice that abuses her severely. It's not right, it's not fair, and I won't take it anymore. I will track down whoever the hell is doing this, and beat the crap out of them. Also, yes, it'll make me so much cooler, AND stronger. Then I won't be the 'weak younger twin' anymore. I will be cool and strong and awesome."

Lazuli got an idea, "Ok, so like.... You know how there's diesel parts at CEMR's yard? Maybe we could take some of those and melt them down to make the armour to honour their souls by making their remnants into a suit made to protect the living?"

Zoey stared at Lazuli and bluntly said, "That's really dark, but...." she then smiled and gave a big dorky double thumbs up and grinned as she excitedly hollered, "Hell to the fucking yeah! That sounds awesome!"

The two humanoid geeps called in an order for pizza, got out blue print paper and a bunch of white pencils and began to work on creating the item list and blue prints to make an amazing mechsuit for Zoey.

To Be Continued


	15. Crocodiles and Chicken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli bribes a crocodile with the promise of chicken into agreeing to help her 
> 
> Lazuli and Rainy are my OCs  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality with the same name

Sunday morning arrived after Zoey and Lazuli had a fun night of designing and planning for the mechsuit. But now was a challenge, getting access to those train parts.   
Zoey and Lazuli got ready for the day and made their way down to the GWWD yard to look for any spare wire they could use.   
As Zoey went to go search the spare wire, Lazuli cautiously approached Rainy who was currently sleeping in his crocodilian form on top of an old GWWD passenger car.

Rocky hopped up to Lazuli's wheelchair and hopped onto her lap, thankful his owner was ok.

The red headed teenager patted her pet toad gently and softly said to him, "We gotta wake up Rainy. You hop up there and croak loudly."

Rocky stared at Lazuli and just croaked at her.

"No, silly. Not at me..."

Suddenly an oddly posh British voice responded, "Who is breaking my slumber?"

Lazuli shouted up at Rainy, "You can lay off the fake accent, it's just me."

Rainy peeked over the edge and down at the disabled girl and remarked, "This IS my accent. I like it so I use it. Now bugger off I'm trying to sleep."

"I need some old diesel parts. Please can you take me later to the CEMR?"

Rainy looked annoyed as he grumbled, "What do I get in return?"

Lazuli responded confusedly, "I don't know, how about a KFC gift card?"

The crocodile scoffed, "Wow, racist... because I'm black, right?"

"Rain... don't pull that on me, I remember chicken night, you ate all the thighs, bones and all."

He laughed and replied with a smile, "Clever girl. Well, anyways, come back when you have the card and then we can talk."

The green eyed girl wheeled away with her toad and went to go find her big sister to ask if she could buy a gift card so she could use it to exchange for a bout of scavenging. 

To Be Continued


	16. Star's New Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Star makes a new friend who also likes sparkly things, and Lazuli pays Rainy to take her.
> 
> Rainy is the trainsona of a member of my dissociative personality  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the member with the same name of my dissociative personality as well  
> Lazuli, Star, and Ferny are my OCs

Lazuli wheeled up to Zoey who was coming out of the repair shop with several small spools of heavy duty wiring.   
"Hey sis, what's the matter?" The buck-toothed brunette inquisitively asked.

The little humanoid GP20-ECO responded pleadingly, "I need to borrow 35 dollars. Rainy won't take me to scrap scavenge unless I give him something in return."

"Why does he want money?"

"No, I promised him a KFC gift card, seeing as we know he likes chicken whether or not it's that high of quality."

Zoey laughed a bit and replied with a chuckle, "That's my sis. Anyways, I think I'll drive you to go get it and then we can go to the mall, you earned yourself a treat for staying strong over the past few days."

"Can we go to Claire's and get some cool socks?" 

"You can even pick out some iridescent slime there too."

and with that, Lazuli was excited and started wheeling over to the old VW Bus that Zoey would drive when she needed to travel where the tracks weren't prevalent.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Star, the largest of the BUNX fleet, was playing a switching game with Vesper and and Dusk. 

"Okay, Vesper and Star are tied and I'm currently out of the game. Who ever makes this next move properly wins." The CN SD60 proclaimed as he waited on a siding to see who would win.

Star and Venus rolled both in reverse, bumping each one empty oil tanker back to try to see whose would connect to the train cars the two already had done.  
Due to the larger size and strength of the AC44, her oil car hit and connected to the train, with a little roll back but not much damage.

"Sorry, Vespie, gotta give the win to Star."

The larger diesel rang her e-bell loudly and proudly due to her victory. She giggled and said politely to Vesper, "Good game, thanks. I had fun!"

Vesper laughed and smiled, knowing that she let the younger diesel win but to see Star so happy meant more to her than winning. 

They saw the signals at the North end of the yard turn red and the three got out of the way. Star watched with anticipation of who would come down the tracks. 

Much to everyone's surprise, it was a big friendly Burlington Northern and Santa Fe ES44. Brightly beaming and softly humming to himself as he brought a line of fuel cars in.   
He happily greeted in a cheery voice, "Good morning there. I brought you some fuel."

Star noticed that like her, this big orange diesel didn't have a driver. She politely inquired, "I apologize for asking, but you're allowed to drive without a driver too?"

The diesel laughed, "Of course, I might be a kid but I know what I'm doing. Anyways, I think I've seen you around before, and I must admit your sparkling eyes are really pretty and cool. Your name is...Stella Bluebird?"

Star innocently corrected as her e-bell switched on by accident, "Stella is my big sister. I'm Star Genella Bluebird. And who are you?"

"I'm Ferdinand Miles. But I prefer to go by Ferny. Also I think your bell is stuck, Star."

The blue AC44 giggled as she replied, "No, I just do that when I'm happy."

Star looked at Ferdinand and asked curiously, "Do you know how to shift?"

He smiled before staring hard into the distance before shrinking down to being about 4 foot 5 inches tall, 7 inches shorter than Star's human form.

Star also took on her humanoid form, but she took notice now of the ES44's human form and noticing that his fingernails were a tad sharp and he had some scales on his arms, as well as a short orange lizard like tail.  
She asked inquisitively, "Are you a crocodile, I know an SD40 who is part crocodile."

The auburn haired boy happily replied, "Dragon actually. You see, when I get overwhelmed either socially or sensory-wise sometimes I get huffy, but anyways it also makes sense because I really love sparkly things."

Star took the dragon-like boy gently by the wrist and said excitedly, "Come with me! I have some cool things to show you. I promise it won't take long."

Vesper laughed and remarked, "But what if he has other work to do?"

"Work can wait. I wanna give him some of my shiny polished rocks."

Ferny answered, "Then work can definitely wait!"

The two young ones ran to the GWWD and into the train station office, going into a special cupboard Zoey made for Star to keep her pretty rocks in. The dark haired girl opened up the cupboard and showed Ferny her large rock collection.

"Whoa! You have nearly everything here from agate to zirconium. Star took out some amethyst clusters and held them up to the light as she smiled brightly. She handed one to Ferny and happily remarked as she began to collect up more of her duplicate gems for him, "Here's one I think you'll like, OH and maybe a citrine too! Definitely a rose quartz, and a piece of a flint arrow head."

The dragon boy's tail twitched with bliss as he held all the new gems, so pleasantly surprised that she was just so friendly and willing to share. He placed the rocks in his cargo short pockets and gave Star a tight hug.   
He softly said, "You're so nice, Star. Some other diesels laugh at me for not fitting human gender roles, but you heard about my special interest and brought me here and gave me some gems. Bless your engine so much."

Star noticed that Ferny was starting to cry and she patted him on the back reassuringly and soothed, "Well if they bully you again, tell them that Star will take them on any Saturday night at the BNSF yard."

The two headed out of the station and sat down on the old platform, talking about gemstones and stars at night.

Shortly after, Lazuli and Zoey came back from their venture to the mall to get socks, sparkle slime, and a gift card.   
Zoey unloaded the wheelchair and then helped Lazuli from the van to her wheelchair.

"Thanks big sis, for everything." The humanoid GP20-ECO happily remarked as her big sister gave her a little hug.

Zoey let go of Laz and contently replied, "Its no biggie, that's what I'm here for."

Lazuli looked over at the station to see Star sitting and laughing with a stranger. She wheeled over, a little worried that this boy could take away Star, who was Lazuli's most favourite diesel in the whole world.

Star saw Lazuli approaching and happily called out, "Laz! I made a friend today!"

Lazuli took a look again, noticing the distorted traits of the BNSF ES44's form

Ferny greeted happily, "Hi! It's nice to meet you. Star was just talking to me about gems."

Star introduced, "Ferny, this is Lazuli, she's my girlfriend and she so really cool! Do you have a someone special too?"

The boy laughed and friendily answered, "I'm not all that keen on the whole dating thing for myself. I'm just happy making friends along the way. I hope we get to be friends, Lazuli."

Lazuli was relieved and nodded happily, pulling out of her shopping bag the small container rainbow glitter slime to show to Star and Ferny. 

They all took took turns playing with it, until Ferny had to get going, Star was sad he had to go but she understood. 

The two two girls watched as the dragon-like young boy hurried along on his way.

Lazuli made her way over back to where Rainy was 1 and a half hours earlier and knocked on the side of the coach.

"You have my gift card, Wheels?" He asked curiously as he looked over the side of the coach.

Lazuli held up the gift card to show him. She asked, "Now can we go looting through the parts?"

Rainy hopped down, took the gift card and went to go retrieve a gondola car while still in bus crocodile-like form. He called out to the young girl, "Call up your driver, we have some work to do."

To Be Continued


	17. The Calm Before the Swarm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Changed to be less wrong, but still, don't eat children.
> 
> Some crazy diesels eye up Lazuli, and Rainy is a bad supervisor as he just goes and takes a nap.
> 
> Lazuli is my OC  
> Rainy is the trainsona of a personality residing within me.  
> Piper is the real name for RTEX 4994, thus she is owned by RTEX  
> Nebula, Shade, Ebony, and Charlene are all diesels I came up with from real CEMR/CanDo Rail diesels I've seen irl.

Lazuli, her driver Annanova, and Rainy approached the North Transcona rail yard. The CP geep, as she entered the yard, began staring at a field that once had a large smoke stack in it. 

"Look alive, everyone," Rainy called to Laz and her driver, "And keep your wits about ya, my 'friends' are rather sharp and tricky, so stay one sleeper ahead of them."

Lazuli looked around the yard, seeing other black diesels, but with red markings instead of orange, she also saw some old CN Zebra stripe diesels, and one GP38 in a turquoise colour.

The first to roll over and greet them, was RTEX 4994, better known as Piper. Her turquoise paint glistened in the sun's light as she neared Rainy and Lazuli. Cheerfully, the diesel trilled, "Hello. Welcome to the Central Manitoba Railway. So you're the little repower from the yard Rainy visits."

"Yes, Miss. I'm Lazuli, a former CP diesel."

Piper laughed and replied kindly, "Little one, you don't have to call me, Miss. Piper is fine."

The CP diesel answered contently, "Well, Piper, I hope you don't mind, but we are looking for some old diesel parts to recycle. Perchance do you have any?"

Piper glanced to the northwest area of the yard and answered, "Just over that way. But, don't stay too late or you might get locked in. And at night, the others get a tad rowdy."

"Don't I know it," Rainy responded quietly

Lazuli was baffled by this statement, wondering if the others would try to maybe pick a fight with her or something, but she'd just try to stay mindful of the time. 

Annanova drove the BUNX GP20, with a gondola car attached, over to the northwest area of the yard near some old and rusted intermodal lifters, seeing heaps of old diesel parts and even an old and battered steam piston, presumably brought from near where the old smokestack was adjacent to Plessis road.

Lazuli asked for Annanova to exit her cab, and once that happened, Lazuli focused on switching forms. The diesel morphed to her young teenager-like human form, so she could take a good look at all the parts before deciding what was usable. No longer attached to the gondola car, she wheeled herself carefully over to a pile and began looking through old side panels, torn up alternators, busted bells and horns, and other assorted pieces, with Annanova helping the little diesel do her work.

Rainy switched over to a corner of the yard near one of his coworkers, a GP9 named Charlene.

The Central Manitoba Railway diesel numbered 4011 asked tiredly, "So, Rain. Ready to do what we do best?"

Rainy said with an intense chuckle, "Damn right, I'm ready."

With that, the two diesels shut their eyes for a 'well deserved' nap as both were tired from being up all night.

As the day progressed, Lazuli and Annanova worked hard to collect up the usable pieces, and even took a short lunch break at one point, not realizing they were being watched by two diesels, CEMR 4206 and 4205.

The one with a 5, hissed, "Ya know, Ebony... I'm hoping that little new diesel stays later."

"Why is that, Shade?" Ebony naively stated, they weren't quite sure they were remembering properly.

"You silly bird brain, for taking her for scrap. We haven't had fresh metal in ages."

"True, true... I forgot for a bit and I thought we were going to play a switching game."

"You've got to be joking... right?"

The nonbinary engine chuckled, pretending not to be serious, "Ha ha, yeah, completely joking."

A GP9rm diesel numbered 4017 with two 'snakebite' lip piercings rolled up to the other two and smiled upon seeing the humanoid GP20-ECO. Her compressor went off as she growled hungrily, "She looks like she has some good metal. I will be taking the lion's share though."

"WHAT THE FUCK, NEBULA?!" the other two diesels exclaimed.

Nebula rolled her eyes and sarcastically droned, "Oh wow, Nebula is hungry... big fucking surprise."

Shade glared at the pierced diesel and retorted aggressively, "We ALL need to get in a piece, otherwise, we might have to eat Piper"

"Wait,.. YOU ARE NOT DOING THAT! HAVE YOU NO SOULS?!"

Ebony responded calmly, "Anyways, let's all agree to split this little one evenly."

"Y'all suck, you know that right?"  
And with that, Nebula rolled off to get away from the others, while the others kept watching Lazuli and Annanova

To Be Continued


	18. In the Raptors Cage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> The first battle sequence of the series. Rainy teaches his "friends" a lesson about trying to eat children
> 
> Lazuli is my OC  
> Rainy is the trainsona of a personality residing within me.  
> Piper is the real name for RTEX 4994, thus she is owned by RTEX  
> Nebula, Shade, Ebony, and Charlene are all diesels I came up with from real CEMR/CanDo Rail diesels I've seen irl.

As Lazuli and her driver worked into the late afternoon, scrounging for usable metal, Piper gently rolled up to them while the other diesels bustled about the yard.

"Hello again, Piper." Lazuli cheerfully greeted.

However, Piper wasn't so cheerful, she cautiously spoke in a hushed voice, "Lazuli. Remember what I said earlier? I advise you don't stay here later than 6, the others have something not very nice planned, and I don't want to see a fellow non-corrupted geep be harmed."

Lazuli was confused by this.

Annanova inquired as she faced the teal and white GP38, "What do you mean by this?"

Suddenly, a CN Zebra striped GMD1 rolled up onto the tracks beside Piper and hissed sharply, "Back to work, Robin's Egg."

Piper trundled away begrudgingly, hoping that Lazuli would heed the warning.

CCGX 1009 apologized warmly in her motherly voice, "Sorry about her. She's a tad odd, take as much time as you like, young one." before rolling along to make sure the other diesels were in line.

Lazuli concernedly whispered to Annanova, "I'm scared now... maybe we should go find Rainy and head back."

"I do get some not so great vibes from these diesels too, Laz." Anna spoke softly, hoping no others heard her, "We'll go find Rainy and head out before anything happens."

Meanwhile, Rainy awoke from his nap to a rather jarring surprise, he was boxed in with tanker cars, box cars, and grainhoppers all around. He panicked quietly, "Oh fuck, they tricked me into napping." He couldn't focus, his fear level climbed and he tried to shift, but his form just wouldn't co-operate with him.

Lazuli resumed her diesel form, and with Annanova's assistance, coupled up to the gondola car, and proceeded to try to find Rainy. She called out, "Rainy! Rainy! Rainy, we gotta go now. Where are you resting?"

Suddenly, Nebula rolled up to Lazuli, a grin across her face made her seem almost untrustworthy. The gothy diesel reasoned, "Perhaps he's on the other side of the yard? Would you like some help looking for him?"

Lazuli gently and firmly put down her proverbial-foot as she answered politely, "We will be okay on our own, thank you, Miss."

Annanova drove Lazuli faster, but noticed that Nebula was following them, this was indeed sketchy.

Meanwhile, Piper turned human and ducked and ran between the cars, checking for Rainy so she could get him out of wherever the others hid him. Her platinum white braid thumped against her back with each step forward, her brown eyes darting around looking for the black and orange diesel. She cursed silently to herself, "Fuck, fuck, fuck... why is this happening?! Why can't they be happy with scraps of railcars?"  
Finally, the humanoid GP38 saw Rainy's trucks and heard his compressor sighing that barely covered up his own cursing. She slipped through between the two grain cars, hopped over the coupling and looked at Rainy. She yell-whispered, "Why are you in here, the others are about to make a meal out of poor Lazuli!"

The SD40-2 replied back, also yell-whispering, "I thought they wouldn't pull this shit with me around. Can you help me get out of here, please. I'm too scared to shift."

Piper rolled her eyes and glared at Rainy.

"What?" He quietly argued, "I know there's not enough room, but there's no need to get so huffy!"

"Just imagine this isn't happening and pretend you're about to nap, and then shift"

"That won't work!"

Piper angrily looked at Rainy, sternly.

He groaned, "Fine... I'll try, but if it fails, you have to save Laz, got it?" He closed his eyes, tried his best to clear his mind, pretended he was about to take a nap and then when he felt like he was about to fall asleep, he harnessed every atom of strength in his body, transforming into his anthropomorphic crocodile form. He looked at Piper and hissed, "I hate you sometimes," and with his claws, he slashed his way into the boxcar infront of him, using the main door of it to exit into the trainyard. He growled as he jumped out, Piper following behind, "Let's go save that geep!"

Lazuli, using her rearview camera that she had installed, could see the other diesels closing in on her, save for the GMD1 who stayed back, watching it all unwravel.

Annanova did her best to get Laz to the gates of the yard, only to find they had been shut for the night.

The other 4 diesels, once all closed in on the action red roadswitcher, focused deeply, all shifting into large and feathery black Utah Raptors. Their long claws intimidating and dangerous. 

Lazuli honked loudly at the distorted diesel dinos, hoping to jar them with her terrifying honk.

The 4 raptors backed up a good 30 feet, making Lazuli think she was successful, but then they started to charge towards her, screeching aggressively, claws out.

Lazuli flinched in fear, was this how it was going to end?

There was a loud KLANK, and Nebula hit the ballast hard, knocked out cold, Rainy had hit Nebula over the head with an old rusty spark arrestor.

The 3 remaining raptorized diesels turned their attention to the crocodile, hissing and screeching before lunging at him.

Next was the turn of Ebony, who took a running leap at Lazuli while the others tried to stop Rainy. They let out a horrifying hiss before lunging at Lazuli, climbing over her railing and looking curiously at her hood.  
They murmured to themselves, "Now then, where do I begin my feast?" 

However, Rainy was able to get away from the other two for the time being, reached over the railing, and yanked the raptor down off of Lazuli's catwalk. Black and red feathers flittered up into the air as they were knocked off of Ebony's back. 

Charlene made a mad dash for Lazuli's battery, hoping to suck some energy out of it. She hissed excitedly to the GP20, "Don't worry sweetie, you won't feel a thing."

Rainy knocked Charlene across the chest with his crocodilian tail, sending her back a good 10 feet, skidding across the stones on the ground.

Piper ran up to the gates, and softly spoke to Lazuli, "We will hold them off," she keyed the code to get out of the yard into the keypad and the large gate opened, allowing the GP20-ECO to escape. Piper continued, "No, run! Run because your life depends on it!"

Annanova threw Lazuli into full throttle, taking the little diesel out of the dangerous situation along with their acquired salvage parts.

Lazuli worriedly stammered as she looked back, watching Rainy fight the raptors as Piper shut the gate, "A-anna... D-do you th-think Rainy w-will be o-o-okay?"

Annanova looked in the little video screen looking back at the almost now out of view battle and sighed, "I'm sure he will be," though she wasn't so sure.

"YOU LET THEM GET AWAY, YOU FILTHY CROCODILE!" Charlene growled as she dragged her claws across Rainy's chest, ripping his shirt and leaving scratches on his belly, though not deep enough to make him bleed. 

Rainy yelled at his coworkers, "WELL YOU SHOULD ALL KNOW BETTER THAN TO KILL ONE OF MY OTHER COWORKERS. YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES. IF YOU REALLY WANT SOMETHING TO EAT, THERE'S PLENTY OF OLD WRECKED CARS ACROSS THE FIELD NORTHWARD!"

"It's not the same, idiot!" shouted Ebony, who was now twitching with anger and hunger. 

"I meant like the cars people drive."

The raptors all looked at each other and smiled before looking at Rainy, they all lunged at him, screeching, taking bites at him from different angles, but none cutting through his tough skin. 

Piper sounded the yard siren to throw off her coworkers before running and hiding in her shed.

Rainy had his chance now. He quickly clamboured over the fence, the prickers at the top snagging his black jeans, but he didn't care, he had to get away to safety.

To Be Continued


	19. Sew, What Now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey and Nellie goof around while sewing and making Star a special treat. 
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality with the same name  
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Star is my OC
> 
> Kraft Dinner belongs to Kraft  
> Ria Mae owns the rights to the song Hold Me, I don't.

"Nell, I have a problem." Zoey quietly stated as she approached her friend with a small plastic bag.

The SW1001 woke up from her depression nap outside the station and looked down at Zoey worriedly, ".... D-did Rocky die? How are we going to explain this to"

Zoey took out of the bag her action red and white striped pajamas and gently remarked, "Rocky the Toad is fine, my PJs need a little mending. Could you hook up the old sewing machine and fix them?"

Nellie shrunk down to human form and went to find Star, since she wasn't as good as the young one was at threading the machine. Since Star wasn't visible in anywhere of the yard, the two presumed she was already inside.

Like assumed, Star was already inside the station, checking out her rock collection, when Zoey and Nellie entered.

Nellie walked up to the little dark haired girl with sparkling eyes and softly asked, "Star, could you be a dear and thread the sewing machine? If you do I'll make some Extra Creamy Kraft Dinner for you."

Star LOVED Kraft Dinner, she gently put away her agates and ran to the cabinet with the sewing machine, setting it up on Zoey's small desk in the room. She went to the thread box that was next to the machine and called out to the two, "What colours do you need?"

"Orange-red please for bobbin and spool." The humanoid GP30 called back, already knowing from a few other times she ripped the same pajamas.

Star grabbed up the necessary thread and quickly yet properly threaded the machine. 

Nellie went to the break room and began to prepare Star's reward, even if it set back the sewing a little, she didn't mind. Plus, Star would leave enough to share for Zoey and Nellie.

Shortly after Nellie finished making the macaroni on the break room hotplate for Star, she walked back over to her sewing machine and began sewing up the seam rip in Zoey's pajamas.

Zoey put on her ipod boredly and Ria Mae's song Hold Me came on.

"Oh my gosh, this is my jam!" Nellie excitedly remarked as she took a short pause from her sewing.

Zoey chuckled and softly asked, "Want to sing with me?"

"I'm not that good, so sorry in advanced."

Zoey started singing, her voice sounding beautiful and full of feeling, "I've been thinking bout the first time, I was just a kid with doe eyes and. I don't think I realized There was anyone else like me."

She sat on the desk and used a King-Sized sharpie as a pretend microphone, "I remember on my first day, thought that was our whole life railway, and that I could untwist this fate that God had planned for me."

Nellie chimed in as she finished sewing up the seams, her slightly off key somber singing tone masked by Ria Mae's voice making her sound half ok, "It's such a nuisance! I just lose it like that. I don't want to live like this I wear them like bruises, Every bad day I've had, I can't let go of it."

Nellie and Zoey took a deep breath and sang in unison, "Til you hooold, hold me, Hooooold, hold me. I'm not gonna die, but I'm ready to crash, I make the moves but I know it won't last, My mind is at war but it always comes back, when you hooooold me."

Star swallowed a large spoonful of Kraft Dinner, laughed and interjected loudly, "You got lots of those words wrong!"

Nellie didn't care and kept singing to the guy's part, "I've been blinded by headlights, Wanna move, wanna move, but I'm paralyzed. Heaven help us I'm helpless I'm just tryna keep my head up high.  
I remember in my young days, We used to hit snooze and lying, we weren't even trying." 

Zoey cut in singing emotionally, "These days the sirens they, cut through the silence. Can we turn down the violence?"

Their little karaoke moment was broken as they heard a loud screeching sound outside approaching.

To Be Continued


	20. A Rainy Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Rainy is alive! Hurt but alive. And it's all mushy gushy and sweet for a bit.
> 
> Also, another bad pun. Rainy because he's alive, and also because everyone is crying so much.
> 
> Some insight into a puella gear, basically, it's just a tiny piece of metal that just determines if an engine is assigned female at build. Zoey's was forgotten by accident when she was built, alike my OC Lucy Dalton
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Lazuli, Annanova, and Star are my OCs  
> Zoey is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name  
> Rainy is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name

Lazuli, under the work of her driver, flew down the tracks, heading for the open gates of the GWWD yard. 

Annanova, realizing she couldn't stop the GP20ECO, on a dime, threw on Lazuli's brakes hard hoping to give them some time. The platinum blonde train driver yelled to Lazuli, "You have to turn human, or we will both get hurt."

"Are you nuts?! I can't focus!" Lazuli panicked back, her wheels squealing on the rails, the station drew nearer and nearer. She finally caved and focused deeply, trying to find inner peace. They were maybe about 10 feet from the track's end, when Lazuli turned human, her driver clinging for dear life to the back of Laz's wheelchair.

The two landed safely in the station's shrubbery, shortly after, the gondola car full of usable metal banged loudly against the large concrete stopping block.

Star, Zoey, and Nellie bolted out of the station to see what all the noise was about. All 3 concerned and alarmed.

Lazuli panted in shock and exhaustion, glancing back to the yard entrance, hoping Rainy would soon come following after.

Zoey ran up to Lazuli and picked her sister up in her arms, scolding worriedly, "Lazuli, that was very dangerous, you could've gotten very hurt." before realizing Lazuli couldn't drive herself, she sternly retorted to the young one's driver, "Annanova, I demand to know why you were driving my sister so recklessly!"

Annanova explained shockedly, "The diesels at CEMR tried to take Laz apart, but Rainy helped us get away."

Zoey looked cross, not believing until she saw the look in Lazuli's eyes, seeing the genuine fear from nearly being taken apart as a meal.

"Sis... Rainy shouldn't belong to CEMR.... He's not a bad guy, they wanted to eat me."

Zoey couldn't believe her ears. She had heard stories about cannibalistic diesels before, but to know some were right in this city and nearly at her sister was truly terrifying.

Lazuli's eyes averted and looked at the gate, softly speaking, her voice shaking with worry, "I hope Rainy is ok."

Star fished the wheelchair out of the shrubbery for Lazuli and helped up Anna before going over to give Laz a huge hug. The humanoid AC44 inquired worriedly, "Do you think they got him?"

Nellie took off her headband and held it over her heart as a sign of respect and mourning of her old trouble-buddy, even if he kind of ruined her reputation and her life to some degree. 

There was a honk on the horizon, the wonky and silly honk of a Nathan Airchime P3. 

"HE'S ALIVE, OH THANK GOODNESS!" Lazuli proclaimed as she looked to the front of the yard with thankful eyes.

In rolled a battered and scratched up SD40, his reporting marks almost illegible, the CEMR bison logo marked up rather badly. His railings bent in some spots near his front and middle. He somberly trundled in, thankful to be where he would much rather be. He huffed tiredly, "I need a rest. I'm in so much pain it's not funny...."

Lazuli asked Zoey softly to bring her over to Rainy. The girl with one amputated leg, crawled with her arms to Rainy's face, sat upright on his pilot and hugged his face gently, crying tears of a mixture of thankfulness, residual fear, sadness, and worry for the SD40-2.

Rainy reassured kindly in his oddly British voice, "Don't be sad, Laz. I'm glad I could help. After all, Zoey would've killed me if anything happened to you. Just remember to be careful around those diesels if you do go back, alright?"

Lazuli nodded, her tears falling on Rainy's nose. 

Zoey felt horrified for Rainy as she looked at his mangled paintwork, remembering once when she was young when she got scuffed up pretty bad by a driver who refused to call her Zoey due to a lack of a puella gear. She stepped closer to Rainy and interrupted in a kind voice, "Rainy... for your courage and selflessness, I want to fund your repairs. I'll see to it that I'll take care of your night shift duties with Star so we can make short work of it, just... thank you so so so much for saving Lazuli.. I've always been the little sister until Laz showed up. I'm so glad you saved her from scrap."

Rainy laughed, "Don't get too mushy on me, cottontail, just get up here and gimme a hug if you're gonna get all sappy."

Nellie also joined in the hug shortly after, as well as Star. Heck even Annanova. Because for once, in Rainy's time as a helper diesel, he had done something completely selfless. 

To Be Continued.


	21. You Okay, Kiddo?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli is on edge and Zoey is concerned, leading to them taking an ice cream break to help cool down after everything that went on that day, not realizing that they'd run into some old and new friends.
> 
> Lazuli, Vesper, Dusk, April and Sapphirra are my OCs  
> Zoey is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name

Later that evening, Lazuli began going through a small box of collected parts at Zoey's place, sitting on the couch, still in shock of what all happened today. The redheaded girl pried apart an old brake valve in an attempts to sort out the metals used.

Zoey cautiously approached her little sister with a bowl of cherries, softly remarking as she got close, "It's just me. I brought some cherries."

Lazuli's right eyebrow raised curiously at Zoey being so cautious and quiet. The adolescent human form diesel replied unamusedly, "I know it's you. Literally no one else lives here. And second, I'm working, and you're taking a fruit break and trying to get me to join."

"No need to get defensive, sis." Zoey kindly stated, sitting down next to Laz, feeling shunned, but still trying to be comforting, "I'm just making sure you're ok."

Lazuli huffed and looked intensely at her sister with her stern green eyes, "Look, Zoey... I know I was almost eaten today, but I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to deal with these emotions right now."

Zoey felt insecure that her own little sister was doing this. The humanoid GP30 raised her voice a bit, though trying not to sound too stern, "Yes but you can't run away from the emotions forever."

"I HAVE SINCE I WAS REBUILT, AND I WILL CONTINUE TO, NOW PLEASE PASS ME A CRESCENT WRENCH!" Lazuli hollered at her sister, then covering her mouth out of shock. She looked down and felt a crushing guilt for hollering at Zoey, the one who had made life better for her.  
Lazuli's eyes welled up and she hugged Zoey, she sobbed defeatedly, "I'm sorry sis, I'm sorry I yelled at you. That wasn't right."

Zoey's pain for her sister made her feel something start to malform near the end of her spine, she ignored it for the moment and hugged Lazuli more tightly than ever, wiping away the tears from the littler one's bright green eyes. She hushed gently, "It's ok, you're on edge and I know you wouldn't talk back normally. Shhhh... Hey, do you wanna go for icecream instead?"

Lazuli nodded, icecream actually sounded really nice. She sobbed, a weak smile crossing her face, "C-can I have extra peanut butter cup?"

Zoey patted Lazuli on the back and with a soft chuckle she answered, "I'll get triple for you then. After everything I think you deserve it."

Lazuli set down her tools and the metal, got herself into her wheelchair, and wheeled herself to the kitchen to wash her hands before they could go to the Dairy Queen down on Provencher. 

Zoey wheeled Lazuli to the CN train tracks near the warehouse and office building she called home. She then helped her sister onto her shoulders before taking a hold of the wheelchair, and lastly standing upon the CN tracks. The mostly-humanoid shifted into her GP30 form, now with Lazuli at the controls in her cab, the wheelchair propped up against the cab wall safely.

"Oh my goodness, this is so cool! Is this what we look like inside?" Lazuli excitedly remarked, looking around curiously, noting the switch for the bell and the valve for the horn especially.

"See the horn valve? Give it a try!"

With that, Lazuli grabbed the valve cautiously and pulled it open. 

Zoey's K3 proudly rang out, beautifully and in a melodic manner, she giggled and remarked, "Loud and proud!"

Lazuli shut off the horn and put on the bell, making her sister's EMD bronze bell ring beautifully.

"Hold on little sis!" The royal blue diesel remarked before she began to gently roll forward, knowing the track would put them right beside the Dairy Queen they were heading to.

As the two began to travel down about 1 kilometre of track slowly, they admired the few trackside trees and flowers, and the little rail bridge over the Seine River. 

"Zoey? I'm sorry I got angry. I'm just not ready to deal with what happened." Lazuli sighed, feeling guilt wash over her as they passed by the Westeel Agricultural depot

The GP30 kindly soothed, "It's ok, I was prying too much, Laz. Anyways, don't dwell too much on it. You might start to corrupt like me."

Lazuli went silent, and then stammered, "S... so I did see fur on your hands the other night."

Zoey trundled forward down the line, her mind more on the conversation than going a faster speed as she answered, "Yes, Lazuli. I'm slowly morphing into something. From my latest cravings and even more pronounced overbite, my guesses are on a gerbil or rodent of some type."

"But I thought you already liked fruit" the humanoid GP20ECO responded while looking down at her black and white sneakers, noticing one lace was untied, but she couldn't really do anything about it.

"I do, I love fruit, just.... I'm worried, Laz... Promise me that if you get emotionally scarred over something that you talk to me before corruption begins. Because once it starts, the anger, pain, or sadness you feel can make it progress and worsen."

The two approached the level crossing near the Dairy Queen. Zoey realized that she was nearing the crossing, no bell on and she didn't honk. She hastily, yet still calmly, changed back to being humanoid. 

Lazuli once again, was sitting upon her sister's shoulders.

Zoey set up the wheelchair she was holding before helping her little sister down to sit in it.

As the two made their way across the parking lot, Lazuli noticed a gas station. She inquired, "Sis, they sell diesel fuel there for road vehicles, right? Is that the same we use or does it taste different?"

Zoey quietly chuckled as she answered, "Quite frankly, I don't know, Laz. I have never thought about it. Why don't we look it up together later?"

The two made it into the Dairy Queen, but before they could go up to the counter, the humanoid GP20-ECO heard a familiar voice.

"Thanks for taking me for ice cream Aunt Vesper, but, why is there two CN diesels with us?" the voice inquired worriedly.

Vesper quelled, "Now, you know this is key between helping us diesels get along better, right, April?"

Zoey looked down to see Lazuli had wheeled herself over to where the conversation was.

And there, around the corner, sitting at the wheelchair accessible table, was Vesper, Dusk, some humanoid diesel with long blue-ish green hair, and Lazuli's old best friend ever.

April, like Lazuli, was wheelchair bound, but both her vessel legs were in tact, albeit non-functional. The humanoid SD30-ECO's red cardigan was a nice contrast to her sandy blonde hair and green eyes. 

"April!" Lazuli exclaimed as she rolled closer to give her best friend a hug.

April looked over to see the redheaded girl and started crying tears of joy, she turned her wheelchair around to be parked next to the humanoid GP20 and gave her a tight hug. Both girls' eyes were flowing with tears of joy.

"I thought you were never coming back from Nanaimo!" The blonde wept joyfully.

Lazuli laughed sheepishly as her voice wavered, "Things change, but I'm back in town now for good. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

April wiped her tears and replied warmly, "It's ok. I have a day off on next Sunday, maybe we can catch up more"

Vesper interrupted, "This is so cute, I need to take a picture of you girls reuniting."

April turned herself around so she and Laz were both facing Vesper for the brief photo.

The blue haired woman sipped on her cherry milkshake and softly remarked, "It warms my heart to see two friens reunited." She noticed Zoey looking over trying to understand what just happened and waved her over.

Zoey came over and decided to sit at the table with the other humanoid diesels, taking note of Dusk's antlers and deer ears.

"So much for a diesel unity meeting." He jokingly scoffed, eating some of his pretzel bites.

Zoey remarked jovially, "Hush, you. Just because BUNX joined the party doesn't mean it's over." Zoey took more notice of the teal haired woman now, she felt herself go a little flush out of admiration.   
"Is this a crush!? D-do I have a crush on her? Non-sense, she's not my type..." Zoey thought silently to herself.

"Sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Sapphirra." 

Zoey stumbled, "I'm glad... no that's not my name, I'm Zoey, I'm glad to meet you." she embarrassedly laughed while Lazuli and April both facepalmed in unison.

Vesper laughed before taking a sip of her mocha-moo latte, "It happens to most of us the first time you meet a CN blue diesel."

April took off the table her chocolate milkshake and wistfully sighed before taking a sip, "I wish CP would have different coloured diesels. But nope, the only unique one is Delilah."

"Delilah is still grey and blue?" Lazuli interrupted, apologizing softly after realizing she did.

"Yep, but I agree with April."

"I'd give my front truck just so I could have a multimark again."

Zoey excused herself to get her and Lazuli's blizzard, but her mind wandered to the beautiful middletone grey skinned diesel with the long teal hair. 

The Dairy Queen cashier asked Zoey, "Will it be the usual, miss? Brownie with extra stuff?

Zoey replied softly, "I'll be getting a medium Reese's Peanut Buttercup with extra stuff for my little sister, and... I think I'll try a blue slush this time."

The cashier rang up Zoey's order and she paid for it using a bankcard.

Dusk looked over at Zoey and laughed, "She's got it bad though, Sapph... Like, not to be rude or anything, but maybe she's sick of Nellie."

Sapphirra's ears perked up metaphorically at this statement, she inquired then, "Nellie... The little one who worked in the practice yards? She's still around?"

Lazuli answered as she stopped playing Thumb War with April, "Yep, she works with us at BUNX. She got fired from her last line, and I did too because of her going feral."

Sapphirra had heard about Nellie being ostracized among diesels, but had assumed the little SW1001 had been scrapped. She remarked, "Gosh, I feel a little bad for her. She was just ill and it made her life harder, and now she's a bad guy."

Dusk replied, "I think she tried to kill herself recently."

Lazuli somberly nodded, confirming the CN SD60's statement.

Once Zoey's order was ready, she headed back over to the table. She placed the blizzard for Laz down on the table in front of her little sister before she sat down herself. The humanoid GP30 inquired, "So, we're talking about Nellie, huh?"

April stammered, "H-How are you so good at hearing, you're like a freaking repower with their audio recording and playback."

Zoey laughed and jovially responded, "They call me the rabbit because I'm fast, alert, and I can hear really well." she took a sip of blue slush before getting serious, "To be honest, it was partially my fault she tried to commit suicide... During my BUNX anniversary party, a diesel hit on me and tried to coax me into notching with them. I got deeply upset and fled for a few days, leaving Nellie alone and unable to cope."

April softly replied, "but Miss, her happiness isn't dependent on you, nor should it be."

Zoey's voice got louder with an intense defensive tone, "You don't get it. Nellie is a very vulnerable diesel. She got left out in the cold by so many people and engines, and she's struggling. She's hurt, hurt diesels hurt other diesels and make mistakes. When your mind is corrupted, you make mistakes more often and it turns into self loathing and self doubt!"

There was a long awkward silence before Dusk stated, "Zoey is right, and so is April. While it's not okay for Nellie to need Zoey to be happy, she's still allowed to feel hurt because of everything she's gone through. I just hope that she learns from her recent attempt."

All the humanoid diesels at the table nodded before silently enjoying their fast fan food. 

The conversation switched after a while to being about being excited for the CN Celebration train, for fall when it would get cooler, and for when they could all meet again. The group chatted until 9:55 pm before everyone went back to their respective yards for the night.

Lazuli was sad April had to head home for the next while, but she was excited to see April again and possibly introduce her to Star.

Zoey, after helping Laz back to the yard, went to her home and settled in for the night. Tomorrow would be the start of a new week, and she hoped that things would look up for Nellie for a change.

To Be Continued


	22. Shed of Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Yep, I'm making a shed 17 reference here, lol sorry. Anyways, Lazuli faces old traumas in a horrific nightmare
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Lazuli, Vesper, Marcie, Rainy, May, and April are my OCs  
> Zoey is the trainsona of my dissociative personality by the same name
> 
> River is a mentioned OC of Esquimaltnanaimo on DeviantArt

Lazuli found herself outside the EMD shops in La Grange, Illinois. She didn't understand how she got here or why she was here. She tried to message for help but her visual interface wasn't responding, normally if she blinked 3 times within a second it would boot up, but she sat on a siding, blinking, to no avail.  
"That's strange," the diesel thought, "My paint is so faded I almost look like Vesper." She somehow 'leaned' forward and began to roll ahead, her engine running and burbling softly.

Lazuli threw on her brakes as if she could remember how to do that. She excitedly yelled, "I CAN DRIVE AGAIN! I CAN DRIVE AGAIN!" She reversed, threw her bell on, and celebrated by switching around rows of other CP diesels, all of whom were trying to sleep.

"Laz, what the fuck, I'm trying to sleep!" a blue eyed GP9u yelled sternly.   
Lazuli threw on her breaks and went closer to the fellow diesel. She asked shockedly, "Marina!? But... I don't understand. How are you alive? You died in the repower."

The true sister of Lazuli asked, "What's with you talking nonsense? Look, CP sent us here to get a few tweaks and then we're going to go home and back to our lives. Now please, I'm drained from the journey here, so please be quiet and try to rest your blue eyes."

Blue eyes?! Lazuli hadn't had blue eyes since.... No... this couldn't be.

Lazuli raced away, frantically, trying to escape the yard. She horrifically panted to herself, "What is this?! WHAT IS THIS?! Why am I here?! My eyes haven't been blue since 2011!"

Lazuli nearly bumped into a row of CP SD40-2s, the front one nearly unrecognizable save for the blonde eyebrows and facial structure. She exclaimed, "April! April! April! We need to leave now! They're going to repower us. They're going to maim us and hurt us! Please!"

May, the second diesel in the line, hollered, "Lazuli, we can't leave! Julie and Marcie are already inside."

The GP9u stammered, "Then I'll go save them!"

She raced forward into the facility as dark clouds filled the already light grey skies. 

Lazuli raced into the line up, already seeing it was too late. 

At least 30 diesels, GP units and SD units, were crying and screaming in agony as workers took them apart. Some of those who weren't screaming were praying for their deity to save them, others were trying to radio home to their workers to say their goodbyes, and some had already died from the agony. 

A factory man came up and yanked off Lazuli's battery plate, causing her to wince. 

She tried to get away, but as she did, he pulled her cables attached to her batteries, making her coast back a few feet before coming to a stop, at the now closed workshop bay door.

The worker smiled and darkly chuckled, "Now, now, Lazuli. Don't struggle too much. Hunter Harrison wouldn't be happy to hear one of his trash diesels was resisting rebuild. He would scrap you onsite just like he did River."

Lazuli squirmed, she could jostle her body a bit but she couldn't move any more than that. She screamed for help, but only the weakest sob came out.

The workers all laughed at Lazuli's pain, watching the large tears fall from her face as she tried to scream. They soon all gathered around her and started pulling off her panels painfully and ripping out her insides or using cutting torches to get things out of her.

Lazuli was still unable to scream, so she took a deep breath and honked loudly and aggressively, the whole shop shook and felt like it was going to fall down. She winced as part of the large steel roof came tumbling towards her face, and then...

Suddenly, Lazuli awoke, her compressor kicking on due to the panic caused by her nightmare. She looked around the darkened GWWD yard, thankful that it was all a dream.

She morphed down into a human and curled up into a ball in her wheelchair and sobbed. She sobbed quietly and almost endlessly.   
The start of what CP managed to repress, all the bad memories from repowering mixed with her near death experience had had crippled the poor GP20 ECO deeply. She took out her computer and decided to make a call to Zoey. She needed to be somewhere safe. She needed to be where she might not have more nightmares, and if she did, they would be quelled by someone she knew would be able to help her.

Lazuli waited as the call connected to Zoey's phone. She waited for her sister to pick up, hopeful that this would work.

A tired, and messy haired Zoey without glasses answered. She yawned, "Hey Laz... something happen?"

Lazuli sniffled, trying to hold back the rest of her tears, "Sis, I had a nightmare, can you pick me up so I can stay there tonight?"

Zoey suddenly was more awake and responded worriedly, "Gosh, sis, I'm sorry. I'll be right there to pick you up. Just hang tight, okay?" And with that Zoey hung up.

The redheaded girl wheeled herself quietly past Star, Nellie, and Rainy, making her way to the yard exit.   
She looked down the road to see her sister's royal blue VW bus drive up.

Now, she would be able to maybe rest a little easier.

To Be Continued


	23. Nellie, Queen of the Monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Yes, a nod to Godzilla, because idk, I like Godzilla, and also because Nellie rips apart a railyard and fights another distorted diesel.
> 
> monster form here -> https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Goldie-Fox-Feral-EJE-Nellie-814891603
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Ellie is a personality residing within me  
> Fang is based on a real person who was a real jerk  
> Lazuli is my OC

"You need to stand up to him, you can't let him objectify and hood-chase you if it makes you unhappy. I've got your back just in case." the voice echoed in Nellie's mind as she looked across the yard at the smug jerk she was dating. A large and in charge BNSF Dash 8 looked over at Nellie and coyote howled in her direction.

She felt like she was coated in a layer of fuel-tank sludge just him looking at her. She had enough of him, she previously didn't want to leave him because what if he changed.

However the week prior he had stated that she should get rid of her yellow paint and get a wider cab put on her. She had all her rage pent up and she didn't want to bottle it up anymore. The SW1001 aggressively trundled over to her neglectful and demanding boyfriend and she sternly stated, "Fang, I need to talk to you."

He cooed in his nasally voice, "What is it baby doll?"

Nellie LOATHED being called 'baby doll' and she didn't hesitate after that to assertively remark, "You hurt my feelings the other day, and you KNOW I LOATHE being called Baby-doll, yet you keep calling me that. You emotional cut down my sister Ellie, and that new friend I started radioing in Canada, you don't want me radioing her and I fucking can't do this anymore."

He laughed and sleazily asked, "So what's the problem then boo-boo-berry?"

She snarled, "I'm... not... your... motherfucking 'boo boo berry', Fang. I don't WANT to be yours anymore!"

He stared blankly for a few seconds, shocked that his lack of care, disrespectful pet names and asking her to back-notch when she couldn't stand back-notching. The big orange diesel chortled disgustingly, his nasally chortle making the little diesel infront of him boil over even further.

She started to shift forms, not on her own will, but because her rage was controlling her.   
Nellie snarled as she shifted into a twisted and monsterous golden bi-pedal fox monster, "You never respected me before, now you WILL RESPECT ME!"

She lunged at his face and took a sharp swipe at his face, leaving a large gash across his left cheek. 

Fang glared down at the fox creature, he snarled coldly, "Women have their place in this world... and you just stepped out of line."

Fang shifted forms himself, the full moon above making it all too fitting. He was a sickly and large bi-pedal coyote. His orange and yellow fur patchy and greasy, his yellow vicious eyes were sunken in a bit, and when he breathed out, the air smelled of burnt oil. He growled cockily, "If it's a fight you want, Baby-Doll, then by all means... let's fight... but... you'll be s...."

Nellie stopped the disgusting beast's speech and flipped him onto his back aggressively, roaring in anger. She snarled, "YOU BROKE ME DOWN WORSE THAN I WAS ALREADY!" She picked him up again and whipped him through an old rusty boxcar, hoping it would put his attacks at an end. She was quite wrong.

Fang got back up and through the boxcar before he leapt at Nellie, claws out, nearly missing her. He flew face first into a gondola car, blood trickled from his nose.

Nellie climbed atop a tanker car, preparing to strike again, watching and waiting while sitting on all fours. 

However, that diesel coyote was clever and pushed the tanker car over with all his strength, cackling as it began to topple.

The ginger-haired feral bi-pedal fox girl fell off and away onto some grain hoppers as the empty tanker car landed on the ballast. She hid on top of the grain hopper to wait for the perfect moment.

Fang strutted over to the toppled tanker car, sneering victoriously, "HAH! Flat as a pancake. Maybe that will teach you."

The vixen monster dragged her sharp claws across the walk beams atop the grain car she was on and pried off the damaged piece. She steadied herself, took aim, and threw the metal down upon the ground. Unfortunately too short of a throw to hit her target.

Fang leapt up and grabbed Nellie, squeezing her mid section with his grubby fingers. He happily growled, "Squishy tummy! You're my property!"

Nellie dug her claws into his hands and snarled, using her tail to knock her disgusting exboyfriend in the nuts hard. As he let go, she hissed as she kicked him in the stomach, "DON'T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!"

The yard staff had come to try to break up the fight, but Nellie was already done. She climbed up atop a large double stacked container car, took a deep breath and let out a mighty yell of triumph, "I AM NO ENGINE'S PROPERTY!" before triumphantly yelling in a tone akin to an M3 before trying to calm down while shrinking back down to being a normal human.

The SW1001 stirred awake, she was shook that she had a dream about her first time going full-feral. She studied the still dark yard with her tired greyish blue eyes before noticing Lazuli wasn't in the yard. She sighed, realizing she would have to try to find the little diesel, and set off to try to find the GP20 ECO.

After some short searching around the yard, she turned human and ventured to Zoey's peeking in the window to see if Lazuli was there. And sure enough, Laz was crashed out on the couch, fast asleep.

Nellie thought to herself, "That looks comfy, I wanna sleep on a couch." And ventured back to the GWWD yard, unlocked the station with her key and went and fell asleep on the sofa in the main area.

To Be Continued


	24. Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie gets some good news and some donut holes before the beginning of the work day.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

Nellie awoke in the station, she didn't really feel like sleeping on rails the prior night because of the worry that the CEMR diesels would come get her. 

She felt the strange pangs humans get in their equivalent of fuel tanks, and she made her way to the breakroom.   
The SW1001 surveyed the contents of the fridge. Just water and a few apples. She huffed annoyedly and walked back into the main area of the GWWD office. Nellie picked up one of her work shoes and took the sole out of it. There, in the bottom of the shoe was a polymer $20 bill. 

Zoey entered the station shortly after, seeing Nellie, now all set to head out to somewhere to get something. The brunette inquired, "Slept as a human and now you can't change back because your fuel tank is empty?"

"Haha.... yeah..." The mostly humanoid SW1001 embarrassedly admitted

Zoey smiled and glanced at her clipboard for a second before looking back up to Nellie, then softly iterating, "Ya know, we can grab something on your way to work with me."

"W-with you!?" The ginger stuttered as her second set of ears that were vixen-like perked up, was this her lucky day finally?

The tall girl nodded and answered happily, "Red will be doing your duties, Lazuli is taking the water works train, and you, Nel, get to finally come with me to one of my old stomping grounds."

Nellie excitedly jumped up and down a few times, her hands twitching with joy, she put her $20 in her pocket and hugged Zoey super tightly. She excitedly spazzed, "You're the best!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you. Zoey! You have no idea how long I've wanted to see Arlington and see what you do!"

Zoey chuckled and hugged her best friend back remarking with a giggle, "Well then. Where do you wanna stop for breakfast?"

"Tim Hortons, but I'll buy." the human-like SW1001 stated as she showed Zoey her $20

"Nell, you hang onto that. Buy something for you, alright?"

"That's no fair! You ALWAYS buy me things, but I never am allowed to buy you anything." Nellie huffed as she crossed her arms

Zoey sighed, giving in to her best friend's pleading, "Alright. Just this once though, alright?"

So once Zoey dispatched her friends and instructed the paint workers she called on last night to aide Rainy in being all fixed up, she approached Nellie who was still in human form. 

"I'm ready when you are, Zoe." Nellie chirped, happy for once on a non-holiday Monday.

Zoey focused deeply and shifted forms, becoming the royal blue GP30 with glasses that she was half of the time. She rang her bell and honked welcomingly before stating to Nellie, "Hop in! We're going to go get some Tim Hortons!"

Nellie complied, and the two headed along the CN line out of the yard and to the CEMR line by the Regent Costco to pick up some food. 

Nellie ran in and got one cinnamon toast bagel and a milk for herself, for Zoey she got 2 bottles of apple juice, two chocolate glazed donuts and a 20 pack of Timbits for them to share later. Half apple fritter, half raspberry filled. She was kind of saddened that buying everything that she wanted to get for herself and Zoey cost 3/4ths of what she had on hand, but she was happy to be able to get breakfast for her best friend and her.

The two headed back down the line. Nellie in Zoey's cab having her breakfast so she could run properly, the two took the CN line all the way to where it merged in with the small BNSF yard which was quiet right now, they continued up the line to where it merged into CP and the two headed towards the Weston Shops. Ready to switch around engines that were being repaired or were temporarily retired.

To Be Continued


	25. A New-Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey and Nellie get started on their day at Weston Shops, where they run into an old friend of Zoey's that Nellie shortly thereafter becomes fond of.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Macswell the SD90MAC is my OC  
> Angeline Shapiro the SD40 is my OC  
> Rob Wilson is my OC  
> Ruby is the trainsona of The-Heroine-fi on Deviantart

When the former CP and CN diesel pair headed across the rail bridge over McPhilips Street, the two took notice of the area.

"Hey! Ruby and I once went mini-golfing over there! We didn't realize that this was right behind the casino." the SW1001 stated, looking across to the strip mall to a large "shop" called U-Puttz

"Oh yeah! That place is pretty cool." Zoey chuckled before remarking, "Still, it's kind of jarring to see it so vastly different than when I was new." as she rolled ahead, leading Nellie into the yard before them.

The two engines entered the yard to a loud sound of bells ringing, horns honking and diesels yelling happily in unison, "ZOEY!"

"Wow, you're quite the celebrity, Zoe"

The GP30 rolled closer to the lines of older, retired, and waiting repair diesels, and spoke powerfully like a monarch, "Now, now everyone, I might be 'The Rabbit' but I'm nothing to get that excited about. Now then, use the honour system, who here am I helping specifically today."

Several diesels turned on their headlamps, and for those who couldn't, they closed one eye as an indicator.

Zoey did a quick count, mentally noting who she would be helping. She then called back to the group, "And who wishes to aide me besides my friend I brought."

Instead of the diesels answering, they all murmured about what Zoey was saying.

Nellie trundled back a bit, and went down a switched line so she could be seen by the other diesels. She nervously answered to the rows of diesels, "H-hi... I'm Nellie Joliet. I work for Zoey's rail company."

All the diesels cheered happily, and said warm kind words to the little switcher.

"Your paint is so cute!" "You're just as adorable as I imagined." "I really like your freckles!" "An SW1001?! So they ARE real!" "You're always welcome here, sugarplum."

Nellie bashfully smiled, she never was so warmly welcomed, perhaps, CP diesels didn't hear the rumours from CN.

One old SD90-MAC however inquired, "Aren't you the one that fell for a human and then made some mistakes?"

She admitted, her smile turning to a frown of guilt, "Y-yes Sir..." she trembled worried what he would think of that.

The fading SD90-MAC rolled forward, with a kind smile upon his face and remarked, "No need to call me sir, it's Macswell. Have you been working to not do that again?"

Nellie responded timidly, "Y-yes s.... I mean... Mr. Macswell"

He kindly responded, "Well, around here, that makes you a better diesel than who you were before. We all make mistakes, what matters is that you grow from them."

All the diesels cheered in agreement with Macswell.

Zoey continued, "Now then, who will help us?"

Macswell chuckled kindly, "Count me in."

an SD40 with purple eyes rolled forward, she chimed in kindly, "I wouldn't mind helping."

Nellie took notice of the GMD diesel. 

Zoey smiled brightly and trundled up to the SD40 who was ahead of her, tapping couplers lightly, she greeted, "Hey, Angie! Glad to see you're in running order this week."

Macswell laughed and backed up a bit and replied, "I'll leave your girls to chat."

Nellie kindly responded to the SD90MAC who was going to start switching around some other diesels, "See ya later, Mr. Macswell!"

The faded-action red diesel giggled and responded to Zoey, "Thanks, Zoe. Also, what did you say your friend's name was?"

Nellie introduced herself as she got a better look at the SD40. Her engine skipped a beat for a second, noticing the engine's colour, her peppermint stripe front, her cab placed bell, the K3 horn atop the diesel's cab, the light freckles, the factory designed pink lips, and of course the glasses. Nellie contently answered, "I'm Nellie Dawn Joliet, formerly Lake Terminal, EJE, CN, and E&N"

The SD40 giggled, "You must have seen a lot of places if you travelled around from railway to railway! I'm Angeline Shapiro, been CP all my life." 

Zoey didn't notice the feelings in Nellie's eyes and stated, "I've worked with Angeline for quite a while so she knows what to do. Would it be ok if I left you with her to guide you?"

"Sure! Just honk though if ya need me, Zoe!" Nellie cheerfully retorted before looking at the bespectacled, purple-eyed diesel ahead of her.

Zoey lightly rumbled along joyfully going to find Macswell to give him instructions.

Angeline reversed contently, still making eye contact with the diesel she just met, she was aware of everything behind her and knew when to slow down for diesels entering the shops. 

"You're really good at backing up! I'm pretty good at that too. Also, can I ask why you didn't get repowered, i-if that's not a sensitive topic..." Nellie rambled curiously as she followed along the GMD diesel in front of her.

Angeline stopped, causing Nellie to stop. The SD40 frowned a bit, but then smiled softly, responding honestly with, "It's a sensitive topic, but I don't mind sharing at all. I'm sure you've gone through some struggles too..." She took a breath in and began, "When I was delivered here in 1980, I met my first engineer, Robert Wilson. Rob was a very kind and understanding man, and he refused to drive any other diesel, if he had to, he would, but he'd fight to be able to drive me."

Nellie smiled, knowing that once she had a driver like that. She stated, "Wow! Was he like a boyfriend or something?"

Angeline laughed and responded, "No, no. While a lot of diesels I know dated their engineers or conductors, not many engines have their engineer as their father figure. You see, his wife was incapable of having children, so he dedicated his life to working at CP, and when he met me when I was new, I was the daughter he could never have." Her purple eyes lit up like a kid's eyes on Christmas as she continued proudly, "He taught me everything about being kind, helpful, honest, and understanding. He drove me for 30 years."

Nellie did a quick count in her head, she then stated softly, "30? But... if you two met in 1980, and it's 2019, then..."

"Yes..." her purple eyes became dull with sadness, as she tried to hold back tears, "He died, in 2010."

Nellie soothed, trying to hold back her own tears, "My condolences."

Angeline continued, "The repower program was beginning, but, because of my mourning depression, I was placed on a mental health break here. I would be started up if they needed me around the yard or here, but I refuse to go on the mainline. I don't want another engineer. When you get close to a human, they don't live forever like us..." The action red diesel's compressor let off air as Angeline sighed, happily remarking with a brave smile on her face, "But he's always with me in spirit. No one can replace my human dad."

Nellie smiled, emotionally moved, some tears trickled down her face, she replied, "That's beautiful Angeline. And that you're not corrupted."

Angeline's face went blank with awkwardness and indicated to Nellie, "You see how on either side of my hood I have these stylized wings? They're not just because I'm helpful and kind like an angel." She focused deeply, shrinking down to a 6ft tall young woman, brownish-copper hair, a white shirt under some red coveralls rolled up to expose her knees, black work boots, and a pair of white dove wings protruding from her back.

"OH WOW! You're an angel!" The SW1001 exclaimed, her compressor starting up due to her surprise

Angeline giggled and flapped them lightly, "It's a little perfect. Father used to say that I was his little angel..." She concentrated deeply and reverted to her diesel form, and happily asked, "Ready to work, Nellie?"

Nellie beamed, feeling warm and smitten inside as she answered, "Absolutely, Angeline."

To Be Continued


	26. A Fox with a Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie becomes very fond of Angeline and opens up to her. Zoey feels jealousy and wants to stop Nellie before she makes another mistake.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Mackswell the SD90MAC is my OC  
> Angeline Shapiro the SD40 is my OC

The morning was going smoothly at the yard around Weston Shops. Mackswell helped move AC44s waiting for repairs into their proper bays with little effort, contently humming to himself some Tragically Hip songs.

Zoey was helping switch around some remaining SD40s and SD60s who were waiting to get necessary repairs to be able to do long runs again, and Nellie, well... Nellie was contently following around her new friend and following every instruction to the letter proudly.

The faded action red SD40-2 softly remarked, "I've never met such a helpful little switcher like you before, Nellie."

Nellie bashfully smiled, feeling her RPMs increase as a reaction to the praise. She contently trilled back, hoping to make Angeline like her more, "Aww, thanks. I've not met such a nice and friendly and pretty SD40-2 like you before."

Angeline giggled at the sweetness of the SW1001, thinking that Nellie was just being polite.

Angeline looked around the yard and saw that the two had nearly completed their first phase of work and she lead Nellie off to another area of the yard, "We worked so well we can take a short break if you'd like."

The little switcher was tickled pink at the thought, contently following Angie like a little lost puppy.   
"That sounds nice! Plus then we can chat a bit!"

The two made it past the turn table towards the switching yard, the little SW1001 eager to talk more to the diesel she was eagerly following about.

Angie giggled and remarked, "I've shown you my human form, I'm curious now to see what you look like small."

Nellie, without hesitation, focused deeply and shape-shifted to her smaller form. Her fox ears stood up attentively as she climbed up onto Angie's catwalk to be closer to her new friend. 

"Oh wow! You're an adorable little kitty!" Angeline complimented kindly.

Nellie remarked with a nervous giggle, "Sorry to correct you, I'm a fox."

Angie seemed to like that better. She excitedly remarked, her voice dripping with curiosity, "Oh! That's too perfect because you're a ginger. Wow! What a cute shade of light copper your hair is! Mine is penny coloured, that's not as cute."

Nellie blushed and giggled, she loved all this kindness, responding back honestly, "I think it suits you and makes you adorable. Don't put yourself down, Angie." 

"So, you worked for E&N huh?" Angie asked, out of the blue, breaking Nellie's bliss.

The SW1001 answered worriedly, "I... yeah... it didn't really end well.... I went feral because of a heartbreak."

Angie looked terrified to hear this, not of Nellie but what would cause who she thought was a sweet little diesel to snap so badly. She kindly stated once she shook off the shock, "Want to talk about it?"

"I'll just give you the run down." Nellie nervously stated before taking in a deep breath and answering, "I was brought to the E&N to escape CN, and the one who I worked with, was Jackie. I fell so badly for her, and I told her to just shut me down, and she did at first, and then we talked about being queer platonic... I started getting too affectionate, and then she and I became gay... then I was WAY more affectionate."

Angie softly answered, "Mmmhmm, but I don't see the problem."

"Well..... I liked to be... really REALLY overly nice... and whenever I came across money, I'd buy her beautiful things.... things she wasn't ready for... Like pretty t-shirts, a dress, and jewelry and stuffed animals, and anything shiny and sparkly or soft.... I even baked her batches of cookies in the staff breakroom sometimes."

"I still don't see the problem." Angie admitted, she herself would kill to have someone give her stuffed animals and cookies and a dress.

"I have a voice that comes in on my radio.... and... it tells me even still to harm myself, and to do bad things... It made me break my couplers off a few times in front of Jackie.... On top of that... I didn't work as quickly as she did... I was scared to kick cars."

Angie smiled and innocently remarked, "Oh you poor dear, you shouldn't have been harassed... And I can understand, kicking cars isn't for everyone."

Nellie sharply remarked, trying to still sound polite, "I'm not done yet, sorry Angeline." She continued solemnly confessing her sins to an angel, "I missed CN in Winnipeg, the diesels who raised me but also abused me. She didn't like that, and there were times I'd try to sneak aboard the ferry to go home because I missed my mom even though going back to CN Transcona wasn't a bright idea. One night when I was depressed, and she had just finished a panel for Rail Con 2018 Nanaimo, she was in tears about a rail fan saying she wasn't a mainline diesel. I stated dumbly that she wouldn't be able to run on the mainline on the mainland, like an idiot...."

Angie gasped a bit, remarking sternly but with no hostility, "Nellie, that's really cold, I know it was likely your depression talking but you should be more careful."

Nellie sunk down a bit, but she wasn't going to cry, she just remarked, "Time machines don't exist, and if they did, I would stop myself from saying that. Jackie would have still broke up with me, but I wish I could take back all the bad things I did." She took a breath and continued, "And when she broke up with me, I rammed into a line of grain cars and toppled them, I then turned into a fox monster and ripped some holes in a gondola car, and uprooted a tree nearby... So... yeah... I'm a monster of sorts, and I wish I could apologize."

Angie remarked softly, "I hope some day you get to apologize to her and try to make amends."

"I'm not supposed to talk to her.... At all."

The SD40 shrunk down to her human form and hugged Nellie tightly, trying to quell the switcher's pessimism a bit.

Zoey was heading by to go refuel when she spotted Nellie being hugged by Angie. She hid behind some cars and watched curiously, listening in on what her friends were talking about.

Angeline softly remarked as she patted Nellie on the back, "Don't get too down, Nell. I'm here, and if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm more than happy to help."

The short ginger smiled and hugged Angeline back extremely tightly, answering thankfully, "Bless you so much, Angie. You're kind, and smart, and strong, and beautiful. You're the coolest."

Zoey felt like the oil in her lines was bubbling with rage. She quietly snarled, "Nellie is hitting on Angie... Angie... of all diesels.... Why not me? Nellie had me as a rock to lean on, and now she's looking to hook up with my best friend? I'm sooo going to have a serious talking with her later."

Nellie and Angeline changed back and resumed working, until noon contently, meeting up with Mackswell and Zoey by the crossing near the Casino.

The SD90-MAC with the kind hazel eyes chuckled kindly, "Okay, girls. I'm treating you to McDonald's and there's no ifs or buts about it." He shifted into his human form. His hair and his collared shirt was white as snow, as a stark contrast to his red corduroy slacks. Mackswell was quite the sight to behold at an impressive 7 foot 9 inch height. He took out of his pocket a pad of paper and he friendily asked, "So, Angie and Zoey, the usual?"

Zoey laughed and replied, "Yep, one carrot muffin, one medium fries, and one iced cappuchino."

Angie remarked, "Nah, I'll get some nuggets today."

Nellie giggled, "That's my favourite thing on the menu!"

The SD40 remarked to Mackswell, "Make it a 20 piece nugget meal so I can share with Nellie."

Nellie giggled, normally she'd be too skiddish to ask for 10 nuggets and often just went with the cheaper and spicier option of a junior chicken sandwich with no lettuce nor mayo. She then asked Mackswell, "What's your favourite? Is it the Big Mac?"

The nearly 8 foot tall man laughed and asked jokingly, "That's a bit prejudice, little one, but... you are so correct." And with that, he made his way to the casino to go get lunch for himself and the three girls.

Nellie, Zoey and Angeline all sat on a flatbed car just chilling, however, Nellie and Angie could pick up on some anger within Zoey.

"You okay, bestie?" the bespectacled freckled girl asked to the brown-eyed girl with the blue and white outfit.

"Ya know, just peachy." Zoey answered trying to seem innocent enough, looking sternly at Nellie who didn't even notice.

To Be Continued.


	27. Hopping Mad... Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey has had it with Nellie's shit and is a bit harsh but it's because she cares
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Mackswell the SD90MAC is my OC  
> Angeline Shapiro the SD40 is my OC

After the day of work, Nellie and Zoey were heading back to the GWWD yard. The SW1001 still cheery about her new friend she made.

However, the GP30 was not so cheery. She lead Nellie over to a siding near the CP spur just Northwest of the Water District yard. 

The SW1001 looked up on the CN rail bridge above, noticing a relative of Slade going by, CN 2513. The little diesel gulped, 13 was her unlucky number and whenever she saw it, something bad was surely to happen. Noticing the diesel above was pulling tanker cars, all with 13s riddled through out the reporting marks. She frantically raced forward to catch up to Zoey, hoping Zoey would keep her safe from the bad luck.

"Nell. I want you to come with me to my home." Zoey sternly ordered, she was worried about how Nellie would take the anger the GP30 was preparing to unleash but most of her didn't care.

"Sure thing Zoey." Nellie naively answered.

The two arrived at the tracks south of the intersection of Messier Road and Archibald. They shifted into their human forms.

Zoey's hands shook with her pent up rage as she unlocked the door to her industrial home.

The ginger haired girl noticed this, and recounting the 13s that were fresh in her mind, began imagining all the bad things that could happen next. Her heart pounded with fear and anxiety, causing her to freeze outside the door.

Zoey pulled Nellie through the door by her wrist gently, trying not to accidentally hurt her friend physically like how Nellie would bruise her own wrists sometimes. 

The startled humanoid switcher fell down on the chair by the door, trembling like a leaf. She stammered fearfully, "Z-Zoe?... D-did.. D-D-Did I do something wrong?"

Zoey took a breath in, pacing back and forth trying to keep her anger minimal, then remarking, "Nellie... I want you to be honest with me.. Are you hitting on Angeline?"

Nellie responded confusedly, "N-no... I'm not... sh-she's j-just really nice."

Zoey took a breath in and tried again half calmly, "Are you sure you're not subconsciously attracted to her?"

"I don't know.. I'm not sure"

The fair skinned brunette remarked a little more sternly, "I think maybe you are. I saw how you looked at Angeline, is that the way you looked at my sister? I saw how you followed her around the yard, did you follow my sister around the same way too? I heard the things you said about her, and I KNOW those are things you said about my sister. You used to tell me about how you felt about my sister 24/7 when you and her were a thing."

Nellie sunk down, realizing she accidentally was doing those things. She tried to defend herself, "I'm sorry I admired her kindness, strength, her intelligence and her paint, and that I opened up to her. I'm really sorry if that came across as flirting."

Zoey got a little on edge as she emotionally responded, "Nellie, don't you realize that you could get hurt? Or you could hurt Angie?"   
The humanoid GP30 felt the fur she shaved off this morning start to regenerate on her hands as she got more frustrated, "Nellie, do you ever think?"

Nellie began sobbing uncontrollably, everyone who was mean to her would say this to her, and aggressively too.

Zoey broke down a bit, but tried to stay firm, "I'm sorry I said that, but what I meant was you need to stop."

The ginger's fox ears went down and she sulked childishly, feeling sick of being scolded.

Zoey had enough, she knew that Nellie was upset because she always was treated like this, day in and day out. The brunette tried another approach as she huffed, "For notch sakes, Nellie! Sometimes you make me feel like I'm gonna have an aneurysm or you're going to make me so upset that my paint will flake."

Nellie felt even worse now, she felt tears sting her face, she wanted to die right here and right now. She vocalized hurtly, "So you're going to break me down like everyone else does, because I make a mistake?!"

The brown-eyed woman could see the pain in her best friend's eyes growing. She could hear the deepening depression in the switcher's voice, and Zoey couldn't be angry anymore. She sat on the arm rest of the chair and soothed, "No, no... that's not what I want. I'm sorry I got angry..."

Nellie trembled, "Th-th-then... wh-what do you want?"

Zoey softly remarked, "I... I'm scared to see you get hurt again, Nellie. Angeline might look like my sister but she isn't. Hanging around Angie won't fix things, and you're not ready for a relationship."

Nellie was going to argue that it was her life and she could do what she wanted, but, she thought for a moment and realized she wasn't ready for anyone, maybe not even for another few months or more. She nodded in agreement but worriedly answered, "B-but... what if she doesn't accept my apology?"

"Apologies aren't about accepting them.. they're about showing you're sorry and willing to make amends," the brunette soothed, "it might take a long time to mend things, but, just to let someone know you're sorry is a good place to start."

Nellie hugged Zoey tightly and sobbed, "I'm sorry I subconsciously had a crush on your best friend."

Zoey chuckled softly before winking at her friend, "It's ok, just try not to fall cab over wheels for every peppermint action red diesel you see." 

The two then hugged it out for a bit. The brunette started, "Nellie, I..." hesitating a bit before stating softly, not what she was going to say, "I'm glad we worked this out."

Nellie, naive and thankful that this conflict was over, happily answered, "Me too, Zoey. I'd be so lost without you."

To Be Continued


	28. The Dark Grip on the 'Clumsy' Fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> The voice gets more strength and causes physical damage to Nellie.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> The mystery voice is a representation of a bad personality

Nellie went to the other room to give herself a timeout to process everything that just happened. She heard in her head something. A familiar, cold, brutal voice, hissing cruelly, "Zoey doesn't like you. If she actually cared she wouldn't have yelled, dipshit!"  
Nellie whispered aggressively, "I'm not even a diesel right now and somehow you're coming in loud and clear in my mind?! What the hell are you then?"  
Suddenly the voice boomed in the ginger's head, "SILENCE, YOU FOOL!" Nellie's right hand suddenly grasped her right wrist, tightly and painfully, causing the humanoid SW1001 to wince, however, she couldn't stop it.   
"And you thought that all the times 'you' hit yourself that it was all you? Hahaha, you're such a dumb diesel. I'm more than a voice.. I'm in control." The voice cackled.  
Nellie wasn't sure how this was happening, this was just a voice, right? The SW1001 tried to calmly tell herself, "Its just a voice" a few times before the grip got stronger causing a bruise to start to form.  
Nellie yelled, "Z-zoey! Help!"

Zoey bolted into the room seeing Nellie's left hand gripping her right aggressively as if the left hand was the dominant, which it wasn't. She hugged Nellie and gently began to pry Nellie's hand away from the now bruised wrist. 

"She came through in my brain..." The ginger wept, her fox ears pointing downwards.

Zoey felt pained as she saw this and stated, "Well, we just will have to hurry up with the project."

Nellie was confused by this.

"Just follow me, I need to show you it."

To Be Continued.


	29. The Mechsuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey, Lazuli and Star work on a mechsuit. Nellie tries to mend a bridge with a diesel she hurt.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Lazuli is my OC  
> Star is my OC  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart

Zoey led Nellie to the back area of her home, and to a large work bench, and there on the table was a suit of metal, not quite finished yet and not done being wired.

"You're making amour?," Nellie asked confusedly.

"No, it's going to be a mechsuit. I'm going to use it to track down the one who is radioing you and causing your increased pessimism and beat the living shit out of them. Because I can't stand that they think that they're just allowed to hurt you."

Nellie began to worry, while she did want to feel better, she wasn't sure if violence was the right means, she kept her feelings to herself though and stated, "That's awesome. It looks great so far."

"I have no idea how though to make it do the cool things I want it to do, like emit dark pulses or electricity while not requiring any sort of flammable materials. I know that transforminite mixed with different things can cause different things to happen with a diesel, so that leads me to a question. Do you know any one who could help?"

"I'm not good at knowing this stuff, but maybe Star would know. She's good with minerals."

Zoey, oblivious to Nellie's progress regressing smiled and remarked happily, "Excellent idea! When Star brings Laz I'll get her to stay."

Nellie asked silently, "Can I borrow your computer?"

The brunette nodded and remarked, "Sure, I don't mind."

The humanoid SW1001 headed to Zoey's bedroom and booted up the computer, hoping maybe someone she was looking for was online. She logged into her IM account and checked, GP30-1-5000 was online.   
Nellie hesitated a bit as she placed her fingers above the keys of the computer, scared to say anything in case she would wreck everything again. She typed with worry in her heart, "Thanks the other night for saving me."

Dots showed up on the screen as the one on the other end typed a response. A reply popped up under Nellie's words, "Well, you know i never wanted you to die. But yet thats how it seems with you."

The smaller and weaker diesel keyed back, "I apologize for my pessimism it's been bad lately but that doesn't excuse it."

"Look, Nell. I want you to get better. While you're still not legally allowed on British Columbian rails, I'm more than willing to be your friend again, provided you actually are recovering." the other diesel answered.

Nellie wanted to be friends with Jackie so much, remembering the days when they used to radio and talk about anything and everything. How they had inside jokes, and and had each other's backs, and back then Nellie was mentally healthier. She wanted that again so much, she wanted stability, she wanted to be happy, she wanted her friend back. Nellie, naively typed, "I am recovering, I'm working on it daily, Zoey is helping me too."

After a minute, a reply appeared on the screen, "Alright."

Nellie wanted to say about all the good that happened as of late but she was worried that she would say something wrong. She hesitantly stated, "I met Angie today."

Meanwhile, out in the shop area, Lazuli and Star were helping Zoey with the suit.

Star suggested as she crushed up some small spare mineral samples she had went to get, "Transforminite mixed with pyrite moonstone and copper, that should be able to create dark pulses. As for electricity, I would have to say transforminite, copper, peridot, possibly a bit of fordite."

Zoey raised an eyebrow, "Fordite?"

Lazuli opened her laptop and looked it up before explaining, "It's a gem made of paint that petrifies itself after years. It's pretty cool."

The other two gazed upon the googled images of Fordite admiring the strange colourations.

Lazuli searched E-Bay for the right mineral samples for the peridot and fordite so they could finish the mechsuit."

"I guess after we do the abilities, I practice with the suit and then we paint it to make it look cool, huh?" Zoey asked the two younger ones.

Star excitedly remarked, "Is there going to be a bunny on it?"

"You bet your back lamp that there'll be at least one bunny on it."

Back in the bedroom, Nellie typed, "Zoey is making a mechsuit."

"Oh I already know that. And do you know why?"

Nellie keyed in, "Because of that bad voice that aided in us breaking up."

There was silence before another message popped up, "Exactly. You have a lot of problems, and that's why I hesitated to say yes to a new friendship with you. You've been rather unstable, like your transforminite, I need to know that you're working towards stability. Since you've said you are, then I'm willing to hang around if you need me."

Nellie felt rather bad by this comment due to her reading too deeply like an idiot, but said nothing, she didn't want to lose her friend again. She keyed back, "I understand and I don't intend to make the same mistakes."

Nellie breathed in and keyed up her apology that Angeline told her to say. The SW1001 typed for what seemed like an hour, but was really all of 10 minutes. She pressed enter sending her message stating, "I also want to apologize, for everything. Firstly for when I said about you not being able to be a mainland mainline diesel, that was horribly hurtful and wrong. Secondly I want to apologize for being overly affectionate when we dated, and then when you asked me to stop I got rigid like a robot, it was wrong and I'm sorry. Third I want to apologize for destroying the yard that night, and fourth, I want to apologize for when Rainy would radio you and I didn't stop him. You asked that no one I was affiliated with message you or radio you, and he was curious and I didn't stop him and I joined him in radioing you and that was wrong. That was horrifically wrong and I'm sorry for that too. Lastly, I want to apologize for my instabilities. I want to apologize for all of them, for every time I upset you, because I never wanted to ever upset you and I always wanted to make you happy."

This slightly overwhelmed the GP30, but she replied back, "While I do accept your apology, I'm not going to forgive you. All those things you did have hurt me, and I am still really mad about it. And one thing you forgot was when you'd call me stripes because you loved my peppermint stripes. That was really creepy and it hurt. I really hope you didn't get the same way towards Angie if she still has her stripes."

Nellie typed back semi-defensively, "I'm sorry for that too, and I can assure you I didn't."

"I'm tired now, I'm logging off."

"See ya later, Jackie."

and with that, the little green chat light turned off for Nellie's old friend and Nellie logged out and shut off Zoey's computer before going to be with her friends.

Zoey remarked as she looked up from helping Lazuli with wiring the suit, "Oh hey, come join us Nell."

Nellie shook her head no and stated, "I wanna go back to the yard for tonight."

Zoey got inquisitive, "So how'd the internetting go?"

"Great I'm friends with Jackie again"

all the other three said in unison, "Oh God... here we go again."

Nellie angrily huffed, "I'm working on being better. I'm sure I can keep this friendship in tact."

Zoey walked over and held both of Nellie's hands, her eyes full of fear and worry. She remarked, "I know you can do this, but I'm scared for if it happens again. If you fail and she leaves again. I saw how hurt you were the first time. I saw how hurt you were when you got screamed at over the radio back in April. I've heard how it felt when you did wrong. I know you weren't in the right, but it still hurt to see you in so much pain. Promise me you'll be careful and not make the same mistakes again?"

Nellie replied sincerely, without knowing what the future would in fact hold, "I promise, Zoe."

Nellie left and ran to the yard to go tell Red the good news.

To Be Continued


	30. Red, A Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Red lectures Nellie about her choices and emotions in an attempts to be a good friend.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Red is my OC  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart

Nellie hurriedly walked to the GWWD yard, thankfully finding Red at the end of the yard just chilling and watching the traffic go by.

Red asked inquisitively, "So, Nellie. How was CP today?"

Nellie tried to stand on her tippy toes to be able to enter the yard code, but it was just a touch too hard to reach. She answered as she looked for a branch to be able to reach the buttons better, "It was really good. I made a new friend. I mended a bridge with an old friend, Zoey yelled at me a bit but I'm ok. How was CN?"

Red didn't answer how CN was but asked about Nellie's 'old friend', "An old friend? Do you mean one of your BC coworkers? I thought they all hated you and wanted you scrapped, like you'd say when you had those really bad depression days."

"Oh my god, Red, seriously? I'm trying to recover from thinking those damaging things, and to answer your question, Yes, it is one of my old coworkers. Jackie, in fact."

Red rolled their eyes and huffed. "Oh God, here we go again..."

Nellie responded in shock as she looked for a twig, she was getting a little grumpy now and really wanted in to give Red a piece of her mind, "Zoey, Laz, and Star all said the same thing. What? Do you think I'm not capable of friendship? Do you think I cannot wrap my head around a concept from that dumb unicorn show that my dirtbag ex likes?"

Red was getting grumpy too, they rebutted semi-aggressively, "That 'dumb unicorn show' is actually really good. You'd know that if he didn't ruin it for you. And second, fox, you ALWAYS screw up with Jackie, ALWAYS."

"I'M WORKING ON GETTING BETTER SO MAYBE IT WON'T HAPPEN!" Nellie snarled, she finally keyed in the code using a twig and waited for the gate to open.

Red sternly remarked, "If she could hear you right now, would she want to be your friend?"

Nellie froze and looked down, she realized that she was doing it again, over the diesel she adored for 2 whole years. 

Red got more kind and responded caringly, "I don't want you to get hurt again. Look, just be careful. And if anything happens, I can talk to her if you'd like."

"Thanks Red, you're the best friend an SW1001 could ask for!"

They kindly responded with a light chuckle, "Well we HAVE been friends for like what, 9 years?"

Nellie walked away happily, going to the station to draw something.

Red waited until Nellie was out of earshot to state into their radio, "You caught all that, right, Jackalope?"

The voice over Red's radio remarked, "Oh god, she's not recovering... Well... I'll give her two more chances."

To Be Continued


	31. Working Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli crushes up gems, Star is thinking in theory, Zoey is thinking of revenge.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Lazuli is my OC  
> Star is my OC

Lazuli and Star were arduously working on breaking down some minerals to be able to throw them into some molten steel-transforminite alloy to place around the palm transmitters of the mechsuit. 

The little ginger haired girl used a motar and pestle to crush up some more moonstone and pyrite.

Star was looking through a box for some sunstone. She muttered to herself, "Sunstone, sunstone, where is my sunstone?"

Zoey's ears took notice of this and inquired to the freckly girl with the big blue bow, "What do we need sunstone for?"

The humanoid AC44 replied excitedly, "Well, you have to test your dark powers somehow. We may need to make a chest plate for one of us to wear made with sunstone as a protectant against some of the effects of the dark pulses."

Zoey was confused by this and raised an eyebrow.

Star continued, "You see, after all negativity is what makes diesels and steam engines shift to being animalistic, right? Darkness could corrupt an engine further or disrupt their form. Sunstone cancels it out."

"And how do you know this?"

"Neil doesn't bother Laz and I when I have a sunstone with me."

Zoey thought that Star was a bit crazy for using this as her thesis, but inquired, "But what if it's not enough, I wouldn't wanna hurt you or Laz."

Star questioned back innocently, "What about Nellie?" 

"Absolutely not. It might upset her!"

Star corrected, "Sorry... I didn't think about that... Um, Do you have any friends at CP who would volunteer?"

Zoey thought back today, and about her jealousy she felt towards Angeline. She smiled a bit thinking about how good it would feel to teach that curly-haired, dove-winged, dodo-brain a lesson. She answered friendily enough, "Oh! I might know someone. I'll go by tomorrow to ask."

Star, oblivious to what was going through Zoey's mind giggled happily, "Great! After all, if you wanna kidney punch the one who is bullying Nellie, then you have to practice spar first before the final battle."

Zoey inquired to Lazuli after thinking about it, "Can we also modify one of my swords to be electrically charged? I've always wanted a lightning sword."

Lazuli rolled her eyes as she stopped grinding down more gems to make powder, and stated, "Zoe, we can only do so much. However, seeing as you're going up against someone who's probably dark aligned, you'll likely need a touch of sunstone added to the paint to help deflect the evil, and if you happen to have a pure silver sword, then that can also work really well."

Zoey smiled and replied, "Well there, that's something I never would have thought of. You're really clever, sis."

The humanoid GP20-ECO proudly answered, "Well, I mean, it helps that I have the internet available and Star right here to help me."

To Be Continued


	32. Gloomy Is Tuesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie has a bad case of the Mondays on a Tuesday because she's not good at her job.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Lazuli is my OC  
> Star is my OC  
> Tracy is an OC

Nellie, despite having had 3 days of recovery, was saddened on Tuesday morning. Back to the normal grind. Back to the CN practice yards, and she would have to deal with the brunt of her errors on Friday.  
The SW1001 trembled on her trucks thinking about how she would be yelled at for her slip up and suicide attempt during her prior working day there.

Zoey dispatched Star and Lazuli before approaching Nellie with the bleak paperwork. She was humanoid, and was able to hop up onto Nellie's cat walk to give a little moral support before the day began for the switcher. The brunette softly asked, "How's my favourite switcher?"

"Frightened..." the EMD diesel quaked, her eyes averting from her best friend to try to hide her worry.

Zoey soothed, "I know it's rough, and I know that it's not easy to work up the courage to go in after what happened, but I'm around again, and if you survive today, I 100% promise we will go for ice cream."

"But, ice cream isn't enough sometimes... ya know?"

Zoey stopped for a second to think about what might make the switcher feel a little better. She got an idea and suggested, "How about this? I will accompany you to the local anime convention near the end of the month. Maybe we can bring along Red too if you'd like."

Nellie thought silently, wanting to say yes, but she was worried if she would slip up again.

The fairly-humanoid GP30 kindly added, "Even if you struggle, I'll still take you. You deserve a fun break once in a while, and I think I would enjoy going too."

Nellie was thankful Zoey wasn't going to use it as an 'if' reward, as Nellie didn't care much for those due to the fact that she could screw it all up. She responded happily, her compressor kicking on as a sigh of relief, "Thanks, Zoey. While I'm still scared, I'm happy I have something to look forward to."

"And if you do have a hard time between then and now, you have friends to talk to about how you're feeling."

"Red, you, Vesper, Angeline, Jackie,"

Zoey interrupted the SW1001 softly but worriedly, "M-maybe don't tell my sister how you're doing. She might take it the wrong way and think you're only going to emotionally dump to her again. I don't want you to get hurt again, so try not to get too attached to her."

Nellie responded, also hoping she wouldn't get sentimental towards the wrong GP30, "Thanks, I don't want to relive those moments again either. That could kill me."

"We don't want that, for certain." The brunette remarked before hopping down off of her best friend's cat walk. 

Nellie softly sighed and rolled forward, thanking as she headed out the gate, "You're great, Zoe. I hope your day goes well."

And with that, Nellie Dawn Joliet made her way to the CN practice yards, trundling along the line with worry and anxiety coursing through her fuel lines.

Nellie didn't bother stopping by to greet her parents, she just rolled along into the yard and got to work before the GP40 would show up 1 hour later.

At 9:00am Nellie looked up from her preparational duties to see coming in from the shops was the grounchy diesel she loathed and feared. 

The diesel's slate grey eyes were cold and harsh. Her aggressive resting expressioned face was riddled with numerous freckles. The EMD diesel monotonely huffed upon arriving in the practice yard, "Morning."

Nellie's compressor kicked on out of anxiety, mistake number one.

"Seriously, you're gonna breathe wrong because I showed up?"

"N-no Tracy. I ran out of air in my engine. A-also... g-good morning." The meek little diesel stammered.

Tracy aggressively barked, as she did almost everyday, "OH MY FUCKING MANUFACTURER, I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING TO YOU. KAY, HAVE FUN USING YOUR 'TELEPATHY' TO FIGURE OUT WHERE EVERYTHING GOES, NELL."

Nellie was about to say something before Tracy glared even more coldly, making the little switcher shut up.

The voice hissed to the SW1001 over her cab radio, "Well look at that. It's a new record for your stupidity. You're the worst, you cumbersome switcher."

Nellie was suddenly thrown into reverse, and her coupler hit a line of grain cars, sending them rolling back a bit into the stopper and making her rear coupler ache.

Tracy's eyes shifted towards Nellie as she hollered aggressively, "THAT BETTER HAD BEEN AN ACCIDENT! SELF HARMING DIESELS GET REPORTED AND LOCKED UP."

Nellie fearfully remarked, "'Twas a mistake. I'm sorry! I'm sorry."

Tracy rolled closer to the diesel and sternly huffed, "... Then don't let it happen again... got that?"

Nellie fearfully responded by numbly letting her bell ding once before she headed to the edge of the yard to pick up her student engineer and trainee conductor for the day, hoping they'd know the scope of the work because Tracy sure as shit wasn't going to tell Nellie now.

"Oh... and by the way.. I heard about your meltdown, I don't approve." Tracy remarked loudly, letting the other two diesels hear and join in disapproval, "And secondly, last Wednesday you put the grain hoppers in the wrong order and forgot the BNSF tanker car. You can hardly call yourself a switcher..."

Nellie resumed trundling to the yard gate to pick up her crew, disheartened that today might have just begun but she was already in hot water.


	33. The Mending Process

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie gets a gentle reminder that she needs to be careful with her emotions in case she might drive friends away.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Lazuli and Star are my OC  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

Over the course of the week, Nellie struggled through work but kept brave and strong, while in her off time, using the radio in the office to communicate with her acquaintance out in Esquimalt.   
Zoey and Lazuli digilently worked on the mechsuit and the protective wares for Angeline, as she had said yes to being a test subject.  
Rainy was waiting for his paint work to be finished, and Star got to spend time with her new friend and Lazuli talking about gems.

Once again, it was Saturday afternoon. 

Nellie had finished doing some basic yard switching of diesel fuel cars before she realized what time it was. She softly stated to herself, "It's finally 2. That means it's noon-break out West." 

Lazuli snickered and stated, "Hey, Nell, calm down a bit. There's other things to be excited about."

"Like what?" the SW1001 inquired

The young girl in the wheelchair, stopped petting her pet toad and answered with a smile, "Ai-kon, Ellie coming to visit, ice cream day tomorrow with some other diesels. Don't waste all your energy on the phone."

Nellie responded calmly, trying her best to explain, "Okay, the thing is, I finally feel like I'm mending things. Like I can help undo some of the damage I did. And then.. then maybe other diesels won't be so mean to me anymore."

"Just don't forget you have us already as friends though. Especially Zoey. She's really fond of you." Lazuli answered as she wheeled herself closer to her big sister's best friend.

Nellie responded, "I know. But maybe if things work out you'll be let back to"

The girl in the wheelchair interrupted bluntly, "Her co-workers rejected us, remember? Don't forget that. And besides, all that rain wasn't good for my circuits."

Nellie ignored the GP20-ECO's logical ramblings, she wistfully thought about seeing the shimmering sea again, about the deer that roamed the woods along the tracks, about the cool rain pitter-pattering upon her hood when it rained, she hoped to go back there some day. She replied to Lazuli, "That is true. Anyways, I'll see you later, Laz." before she shapeshifted down to being a human and went on her merry way to the station to try to mend things a bit better.

Nellie bounded happily into the office, nearly bumping into Zoey.

The brunette quickly darted out of the way of the fox-eared girl and laughed gently, "Hey Nellie. What's the news?"

Nellie responded happily, "No news, just hurrying to talk to your sister."

Zoey stopped Nellie by placing her hand on the ginger's back.

"Oh boy, you're going to give me a trademark Zoey pep talk..."

The brunette brought Nellie over to the sofa in the office and sat her down. Her brown eyes staring sincerely into her coworker's greyish-blue eyes as she spoke sternly yet gently, "Nellie. I know you're one who is eager to mend bridges, but you need to be cautious. Your excitement and enthusiasm about your special interests, which I think is great, will probably scare my sister away again. Not that it is healthy to bottle up your emotions, but right now, you may have to. Also, don't get too comfortable around her nor get comfortable to have her around. Just in case she shuts you out again."

Nellie's ears pointed downwards, what kind of pep talk was this? She asked disappointedly, "What's with the pessimism, Zoe?"

Zoey got more firm with her speaking, moving her hand from Nellie's back to Nellie's left hand, "I don't want you to get hurt again. You're starting to get better, and I don't want that if she leaves you in the dust that you'll slide back into being persistently suicidal."

Nellie looked down and remembered her first month or so at BUNX, how nothing mattered, how she some days refused to work, how she tried to kill herself by parking herself on a blind spot of a wye and praying that she would get crushed by a larger diesel. She sighed as she accepted Zoey's words, answering solemnly, "I understand. I'll be careful."

Zoey gave Nellie a tight and caring hug before letting go of her best friend. 

The radio picked up the signal and a voice came through, "Hello, Nellie? You there?"

Zoey whispered to Nellie, "You know what to do, Nell"

Nellie walked over to the radio, picked up the receiver and pressed the button, answering politely, "Good Afternoon, Jackie. How's things going?"

To Be Continued.


	34. Initial Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey tests out one piece of the mech suit, just to get a feel for it. 
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Lazuli and Angeline are my OC  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Mech-Suit-Zoey-final-battle-814482816 glimpse at Zoey's mech suit

Zoey left the station to leave Nellie be, after all, she remembered Laz and her had to do something.  
The brunette approached the young ginger girl in the wheelchair and asked excitedly, "So, sis. Ready to do some preliminary tests?"

Lazuli looked up from her computer confusedly at her sister, not remembering for a bit but then remembered as she blurted out, "OH! That! Sure, sorry I forgot."

Zoey softly chuckled, "That's alright Laz."

The brunette helped her little sister into the microbus, loaded up the wheelchair, shut the side door of the van, hopped into the driver's seat and headed down Messier to where she would sleep at night.

The two arrived and once out of the VW van, headed inside to do some minor tests with the mechsuit.

Zoey put on one of the gauntlets and smiled at it excitedly, like a kid on Christmas.

"Now, sis, I know you're excited but remember, this IS a weapon, and it should be handled very carefully." Lazuli warned as she opened her computer to her notes on how to operate the mechsuit's various parts. She advised as she read, "To activate the electro pulse, tap the middle finger to the palm twice quickly."

Zoey did as she was asked, a the air filled with static for a moment before the glove's palm sparked and crackled with small bolts of electric energy for a few seconds.   
The brunette excitedly giggled, "OH MY ACTUAL GOD! THIS IS SO COOL!"

Lazuli continued, "For flame emission, rub the gauntlet's palm gently along a hard surface. Ya know, pretend you're rubbing a match against the box to strike it."

Zoey graciously took the gauntlet's palm and slid it a quarter of an inch from the wall before pulling back to see the palm's emitter put off a small, palm sized blue flame, it flickered beautifully, but Zoey's palm couldn't feel the heat at all. She excitedly stammered with shock, "O-oh my actual G-god. T-this is fucking AWESOME!"

Lazuli chuckled and then read off, "To extinguish, gently blow on the palm."

Zoey blew on the palm a little too harshly, like how one would put out the candles on their birthday cake, but it still caused the flame to extinguish.

"Last test, the dark pulse... This one will be hard to test. So, we might need something to test on."

Zoey looked around the room and saw the lamp that always gave her trouble, she brought it over and set it down as she remarked, "Well, lampy... you've given me shit for the past year now.. time to meet your maker."

Lazuli stared blankly at the lamp and shrugged a bit. She then read, "Think about something that makes you extremely angry and stabby, then take aim, and make a hand like you're telling someone to stop, before shouting 'Destructo'"

Zoey laughed a bit and remarked jokingly, "Pfft, Destructo? What"

She was interrupted by a pulse of negative energy, akin to a heartbeat of a large and cold looming monster. Purple mist emitted from the glove as the air got cold, and the lights flickered in the room for a moment. The mech-gauntlet returned to normal. 

After half a minute, the darkness dispelled.

Zoey stared at the gauntlet on her right hand, shocked and horrified that one little word had so much power. She remarked, "So, that's for a last resort, right?"

Lazuli nodded, remarking sternly, "Also, be careful, there's a potential chance that over using that may cause the flint-moonstone combination with the transforminite to make you experience further corruption or even intensive anger."

Zoey glanced at the glove grimly for a moment, but then thought about all the cool, non-corruptive things it could do. Her frown changed to an excited smile as she exclaimed, "Regardless it's still really cool af!" She took off the glove and hugged her little sister happily. She thanked warmly, "You're the best, Laz. Thanks again for helping make my drawing become reality," now disregarding destroying the lamp, it was no longer her prerogative anymore.

Lazuli giggled happily, "No problemo, sis. Tomorrow, you get to try it out in combat, but please go easy on Angie. After all, she might not be as combat knowledgeable as you are."

Zoey remembered how smitten Nellie was getting with Angie and felt some anger deep inside. Innocently she remarked, "Don't worry, Laz, I'll play nice."

But, let's be honest, Zoey probably wouldn't

To Be Continued


	35. The Wye in the Dream Realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> TW// Transphobia and violence mention
> 
> Nellie and Zoey have a little sleepover in the station that goes wrong when an unexpected call comes in. Then Nellie ends up having a nightmare.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Brenna, Blizzard, Lazuli, Debbie, Beezelbub the evil voice, Vesper, and Dusk are my OCs  
> Ellie is a personality residing within me  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart

Nellie invited Zoey to sleep over at the station with her. 

The humanoid GP30 began to set up the air mattress as Nellie popped some popcorn in the break room.

Zoey laughed excitedly as she finished filling up the mattress, "Why haven't we done a sleepover before? Like, this is really exciting!"

The ginger girl with the fox ears didn't really hear her friend, she was listening and waiting for the perfect moment to stop the microwave to prevent the popcorn from burning. She watched the bag turn around inside the microwave, drawing in the scent and listening to the rapid popping sounds as they began to slow down. After about 13 more seconds, before the popping slowed too much, Nellie pressed the stop button and opened the door of the Panasonic Genius, letting the beautiful smell of popcorn fill the air.

Nellie stated confusedly, "Sorry, Zoe, I didn't hear you on account of the microwave."

Zoey chuckled and responded, "We should do sleepovers more often, I already like this."

Nellie softly giggled as she opened the popcorn bag, she too was enjoying this so far, but was nervous. This was her first real sleepover in a while, with the last not-real one being when she stayed with Brenna and Blizzard out at a grain refinery by Morris. She then stated, "Maybe, I don't know. I'm, I'm kind of nervous."

Zoey remembered and thought a bit before softly asking, "I'm guessing the last sleepover you had was when you and some of the others from British Columbia did one during rail maintenance day when not many of the fleet were let on the rails and you all had to be somewhere, right?"

The ginger nodded and recalled as she poured the popcorn into a bowl, "Yep, I remember calling you the day of. Ellie's Aunt Lucy paid for us to all stay at the Best Western Dorchester. I got to stay in one of the bigger suites with Jackie. The others were all divided up into the other 3 rooms. Laz even brought her Xbox One and her PS4 and we all played Overwatch together. I got to be Mercy, but... I kinda did a bad job."

Zoey sang softly recalling a fan song, "I'm not gonna be Mercy, I'm not gonna be any kind of support."

Nellie pointed at Zoey as she brought in the popcorn and abruptly yelled, "THAT! Your sister did the same singy thing with that song."

The girl in the action red pajamas sort of flinched, feeling a little bad for accidentally reminding Nellie of her sister.

"No, no, it's ok, Zoey, I just mean, like, it's funny.... You remind me of her when I first became friends with her, before I made any of my mistakes."

Zoey walked over and took the popcorn from Nellie, placing it down on a desk before hugging her best friend. She soothed, "Well, GMD only made two. So, there's no one else in all of Canada like her besides me."

The fox girl SW1001 replied as she shook her head, "No, I mean, why do you forgive me so easily when I fuck up? Don't I make you mad? Don't you ever want to just cut me out of your life like a tumour?"

"Nellie, no, I wouldn't want to do that. Did my sister say something today that is making you wonder?"

"No, I just don't understand. If I'm so bad, then why do you like me?"

Zoey picked up the SW1001 carefully and gave her a big hug, not struggling to lift the chubby 5'3" fox girl, and answered happily, "Because you're my favourite friend, Nellie. I couldn't replace you and wouldn't even dream of it. You have some things you need to work on, yes, but I don't wanna ever leave you."

Nellie was a bit startled, and shouted worriedly, "ZOEY! YOU'RE GONNA BREAK YOUR BACK!"

"Non-sense, Nel, I have 2,250 horsepower. I'm pretty sure as a human I can hold you easily up. Heck, you're not even that heavy." The brunette answered before setting Jen back down without even a sound of strain.

Nellie knew she weighed at least as much as a dwarfed female polar bear as a human, and felt fairly insecure about it, she didn't answer the statement due to that fact. She remained silent, thankful to be back on the ground, and thankful Zoey was forgiving and nice.

Zoey sniffed the air and happily exclaimed, "Mmmm! The popcorn smells good"

"I agree entirely.... Hey, any word on when Rainy will be done?"

"Maybe another week and a half. But he's coming along nicely and he likes the time to rest."

Nellie snickered a bit, "If we let him before, he would probably sleep 48 hours solid. But he definitely earned his rest."

Zoey smiled as she picked up the bowl of popcorn, looking then out the window in the direction of the GWWD shops, softly stating, "I'm so happy he saved Laz."

Nellie nodded silently before opening a small box of markers and examining them thinking about if she wanted to draw or anything. She stared blankly at the markers, trying to come up with something to draw, but to no avail. The fox-earred girl gave up and closed the box.

Zoey sat down on the sofa with the bowl of popcorn and asked curiously, "So what now?"

"I don't have any video games, and drawing isn't really your favourite so I'm not sure." Nellie answered insecurely.

The brunette finished crunching on and swallowing the popcorn in her mouth before she offered, "How about Shop Fire?"

Nellie cocked one of her light eyebrows, "Shop Fire?"

Zoey continued, "So, basically, it's a hypothetical situation you and 3 others you know would be in. One you save, one you push out of the way possibly damaging them, and one gets left behind."

Nellie felt nervous but this was better than Truth or Dare, she accepted the game and the two began.

The brown eyed girl stated, "Okay, so there's a shop fire at the Prairie Dog Central. In the shops is The Countess of Dufferin, your big sister Brenna, and Sunrise. Who do you save directly? Who do you push out? Who do you leave?"

Nellie thought a bit before answering, "That's easy. Save Countess because her parts are few and far apart. Brenna gets pushed because she can be repaired. And I know Sunrise is a nice former BNSF diesel, but I'm sorry, the life of my sister and Countess is more valuable."

Zoey nodded and responded, "Damn, good thinking. Probably Sunrise would escape no problem. Okay, your turn to ask."

Nellie laughed and queried, "You are aboard a sinking boat upon Lake Winnipeg. The waves are strong enough to make one drown in a minute. In the boat with you is me, Vesper, and Dusk. A different boat comes up towing along a tube, who do you bring in the boat, who goes on the tube, who drowns?"

The fair skinned brunette answered, "That's a hard one. Obviously save you. Vesper I know is tough so she can hold her own on the tube."

Nellie with a slight laugh responded, "And Dusk drowns?"

Zoey responded, "No, we know Vesper would somehow manage to share the tube with him and we'd all make it out."

"Oh, right, duh, she's Vesper, she's not leaving her brother behind." Nellie realized out loud before she said happily, "Your turn."

"Okay, so imagine you're still at your old rail co and there's an earthquake while you, Lazuli, Jackie and Ellie are at the rail slip. The ferry leaves the dock meaning that you four might fall into the water. Who do you leave to die?"

Nellie thought a bit before answering, "I know it's not right, but I tell Ellie to get Jackie out of there before I push Laz out of the way."

Zoey laughed and then stopped before grimly asking, "S... so you die?"

"I mean, yeah. Ellie is important to so many so she can't die. Laz is your sister, so she's important, and Jackie is one of the two GP30s made in Canada so everyone would be upset if she died. So that means..." Nellie solemnly stated before trailing off to silence.

Zoey set down the popcorn and stood up to reason with her best friend, "Okay, I'm taking a double turn. Jackie, me, and you are in an old shed that is collapsing, you can only save one GP30. Nellie, you cannot stay behind and die."

Nellie wasn't sure of how to answer, she wouldn't want the world to be without Jackie but Zoey was the one that helped Nellie after the incident. She was perplexed and overwhelmed, she started to hyperventilate and tears formed in her eyes.

The brunette panicked as she saw Nellie start to panic before worriedly trying to quell, "You don't have to answer, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's ok. Breathe, breathe, breathe."

In between her tiny panicked breaths she said, "That's what they all say but then they say I'm breathing wrong and scream at me."

Zoey's mind was looking for something, anything, to try to bring Nellie down from her imagined panic attack. She finally got the idea and exclaimed in a silly voice, "Puuuuuuddiiiiing!"

Nellie stopped panicking and started laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. She giggle-snorted as she snickered, "Pudding!"

Zoey was relieved, she knew Jackie used to use the word pudding as Nellie's reset word, but she didn't deliver it in the way one would deliver a punchline, so Nellie wouldn't laugh nearly as much.

Nellie calmed down as she sat down on the sofa and remarked apologetically while fidgeting, "Sorry, I... I don't know, I'm sorry I don't know."

The two were interrupted as the radio came on, a cold voice hissed through, "You both know sorry doesn't cut it. Nellie had a panic attack like a baby and she's a traitor to you, Joey."

Zoey walked over, picked up the radio receiver, and aggressively yelled at the voice, "Look here, whoever you are. You attack Nellie, you're a monster that will get beaten up, but since you're transphobic I will break every bone in your weak little body, take out your vocal chords with a rusted saw and drain your blood to the point that you will hallucinate that you're already in the hell that you belong in for breaking down my best friend and deadnaming me!"

The voice laughed, "Two GP30s, GMD forgot to give one a puella gear..."

Nellie stormed over, took the receiver and snarled, her nose changing to pink on the tip as she spoke, "You have MAJOR nerve. IF ZOEY IS A GIRL NOW, SHE'S A GIRL! WHY DON'T YOU ATTACK ME INSTEAD!? YOU RUDE BEAST! SO YOU TAKE YOUR SICK ATTITUDE AND LEAVE MY SOFT LITTLE SNUGGLY BUNNY BEST FRIEND ALONE!"

Zoey onlooked as Nellie shifted to be more fox-like, shocked that Nellie got that protective of those she cared about

The voice hissed mockingly, "Your mother is a broken down tub of junk and your little sister is so infantile her boyfriend-engineer is basically her dad."

Nellie's eyes darkened as she growled, "WHEN WE FIND YOU YOU ARE DEAD, BEEZELBUB!" before she aggressively pulled the cord and unplugged the radio. She aggressively huffed for a few minutes before she was hugged by the brunette who was trying to prevent more corruption.

"Shhh, it's ok. We will fight her together and bring her down. Your mom is good, Ellie is good. Don't let her words ruin tonight, Nel, I'm here." 

Nellie settled down a bit as she hugged Zoey back before she touched her own nose, feeling it was different. She let out an upset sigh as she muttered sadly, "Great. More corruption."

Zoey soothed, "Now, now, Nel, we can cover it up with some grey makeup if you'd like. And, want to go to bed?"

Nellie nodded, she was exhausted from everything, she didn't even care about pajamas, she just laid down on the couch with her plush rabbit, looking over to her best friend clad in the orangey-red as she softly yawned, "Goodnight, Zoe."

Zoey made herself comfortable on the air mattress under the blanket she brought from home, softly remarking back, "Sleep well, Nell."

The two tried their best to sleep, Zoey laying awake thinking about everything.

Nellie closed her eyes, normally she would fight with trying to fall asleep, but the corruption drained her a lot so she was soon out like a light.

Nellie seemingly awoke in the yard, on the rails, looking up at the sky. 

The royal purple sky was full of galaxies of neon stars. She then looked down to the tracks which shone like they were brand new. The hums and chirps of the evening crickets filled the air and a soft wind blew south-east.

The black and red SW1001 sat still on the tracks for a bit, enjoying the atmosphere before the wind blew stronger, she often, in dreams, would follow the wind as often it wanted to show her something or take her where she needed to go.  
Nellie followed the tracks out of the yard, the gate was wide open. 

Nellie headed down the line until she reached the spur... or rather where the spur was in real life. Here instead was a wye where the silvery rails gleamed. On the left track was Zoey, sitting waiting for Nellie. On the right track was Jackie, also waiting for the SW1001. The grey-ish blue eyed diesel stared, unsure which way to do on the tracks.

Jackie just looked over at Nellie silently before remarking, "So which track you going to take?"

Zoey called out friendily, "Nell! Follow me! We can go have a nice time together on a ride."

Nellie wasn't sure, which track would she rather be on, she went to back up, but felt something hot, the tracks behind her were on fire, she had to chose now or never. 

Zoey called, "Come on Nel, you know where you wanna be!"

Jackie remarked matter-of-factly, "Don't just sit there being burned," not specifying where the smaller diesel was supposed to go.

Nellie felt the flames getting closer and bolted forward without thinking, heading onto the rails heading to Jackie before the rails cracked beneath her, as did the ground. 

The sound of breaking glass echoed through the area as Nellie began to fall through the night sky, she honked loudly and screamed as she plummeted.

The ginger felt herself land hard on the couch as she awoke, despite not having fallen in actuality. She looked around the station and breathed heavily. Her eyes fell upon the clock, seeing it was 4AM. She still would have more hours to sleep, not that she wanted to, but she needed to. She laid eyes upon her best friend, sleeping peacefully. Nellie felt too scared to ask for comfort, and so she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep

To Be Continued


	36. Angie Gets her Ass Kicked By A Sci-fi Mecha-Rabbit and Other Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Angie goes all magical girl and Zoey spars with her.  
> TW// Bleeding (?)
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Sapphirra, Angie, Lazuli, Red, Neil, Star, Vesper, and Dusk are my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me
> 
> Thanks EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt for title idea
> 
> mechsuit: https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Mech-Suit-Zoey-final-battle-814482816
> 
> Angie's Sunstone form: https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/DD-Artwork-Princess-Sunstone-aka-Battle-form-Angie-813695164

Sunday morning arrived, the sun was up shining into the station, awaking the humanoid SW1001 into the new day.   
The smell of burnt toast wafted through the air accompanied with the sound of a bespectacled girl sighing annoyedly, "Fucking fuck sakes, why do I always accidentally burn the second batch?"

Nellie decided she should get up and help Zoey figure out the toaster, she sat up, set down her beloved white rabbit doll that she got at a carnival in Nanaimo, before she stood up and headed to the break room

"Damn it, Zoe..." the brunette cursed to herself before seeing Nellie approaching her, she happily stated, "Morning, Nellie, I tried to make you some toast but it burnt. Sorry."

Nellie adjusted the dial on the toaster and smiled with a laugh, "It's ok. I know what can save this burnt toast." She reached up to one of the cupboards and found a box of tinfoil single sheets. The ginger took out the sheet and wrapped up the burnt pieces. 

Zoey stared confusedly.

"Oh, well, it makes condensation, so it's not rock hard, it becomes soft like the toast at restaurants." Nellie answered happily, "My mom taught me this one night when she and I were in the shop break room at Transcona."

Zoey smiled and pulled a chair from the break room table before sitting down to have her peanut butter toasted sandwich with a big bowl of strawberries.

Nellie giggled and remarked, "That's a lot of berries, Zoe. May I steal one?"

Zoey shook her head no as she ate one, the rabbit girl then pointed to a bowl on the counter of BC cherries from Zoey's last trip to Freshco.

"Cherries!" Nellie happily exclaimed before taking the little bowl with a happy smile. She started eating them and placing the pits on a piece of paper towel on the counter. 

Zoey swallowed the mouthful of peanut buttery toast before remarking, "Today you get to see my mech-suit in action for the first time. I hope you'll stick around for the show. Angie will be here and some others."

The fox earred girl said with a giggle in her voice, her lips partially stained a deep pink from the cherries, "Angie? Nice! I should go to the washdown."

The brown eyed woman rolled her eyes before stating, "Nellie... We went over this. Angeline isn't my sister, you don't have to impress her."

Nellie crossed her arms as her fox ears pointed downward in annoyance. She took a cherry pit out of her mouth and huffed, "Zoey, seriously, I wanna make a good impression."

"Nellie, engines don't need baths that often. I know you go human daily, but seriously, you're fine. Now let's have some breakfast and head outside after."

The former CN humanoid-diesel complied and unwrapped her toast, it was nice and soft now, she put a little margarine on each piece before enjoying her soggy and partially-burnt toast.

The two after their little breakfast headed out to the yard to see Vesper driving up in Zoey's VW van with Lazuli in the back making sure the mech suit survived transport with no issues. 

Vesper parked and shut off the van before stepping out. She joked, "This vehicle is so not you, Zoey, you're not a peace hippie type. Not if you made basically a cross between an Iron-man suit and a fursuit." 

Zoey scoffed back humourously, "Please, Vespie, this is merely for restoring the peace. And also the van is because it looks cool as fuck."

Vesper got out the wheelchair from the back and aided Lazuli out of the vehicle. 

Lazuli excitedly greeted, "Morning sis! How was the station?"

"It was a nice sleepover in there. We played shed fire."

Lazuli, once in her wheelchair brought to Zoey the headgear of the suit. A headband headphone set with a wire that would connect to the suit, standing up from the top of the headphone were two tall rabbit ears made of an alloy of titanium, aluminum and white gold, bare metal strips on the inner side would be used to carry up the electricity like a jacobs ladder would. The rest of them were painted a beautiful glossy white. 

Zoey put them on and turned to Nellie with a smile asking playfully, "Well, do they suit me, Nel? I mean I hope so, I mean, fashion statement or not, I think I'm probably a rabbit."

Nellie nodded and with a giggle she replied, "I adore them, they make me think of my favourite bunny doll."

Vesper scoffed playfully and laughed, "Oh my god, you two are giving off big lesbian couple vibes."

Nellie crossed her arms and responded sternly, "We aren't gay for each other."

Zoey quietly responded, "Haha, we aren't gay," despite her secret crush on Nellie. 

Lazuli knew about her big sister's crush on the SW1001, but wasn't told not to say anything about said crush, she stated, "Those ears look super cool. I'm glad we came up with them, sis."

Soon, the sound of a familiar brass GMD bell and the cheery honk of a K3 was heard near by, causing Nellie to excitedly dart over to the yard's old fenced up gate.

There, on the CP line coming in off the spur from Arlington Yard, was Vesper. The SD40's matte action red paint caught the fox girl's eyes, making her heart flutter with excitement. She took note of the diesel's multimark and her heart melted as she smiled a large dorky grin.

The SD40 numbered 5988 graciously shifted to her humanoid form, her little white wings on her back flapped softly before she began walking down the road to the Water District. 

Nellie, like the big dork she is, waved excitedly and cheerfully called out, "Hey Angie! It's good to see ya again!"

Angie hurried along once she saw Nellie, she was fond of the little switcher and was happy to see her again. Upon reaching the smaller people gate, Nellie unlocked the gate and let in the tall brownish-copper-haired girl.

The winged woman remarked cheerfully, "Good morning, Nellie. It's good to see you again too."

Zoey approached the two chattering humanoid diesels, decked out in her mech suit, the blue and white paintwork shone beautiful in the sun's light. She asked to the bespectacled ginger, "So, Angie, you ready to help me test?"

Angie entered the gate and smiled curiously at the humanoid GMD GP30 before responding happily, "Sure. Am I setting up some boards for you to kick in half?"

The brunette cockily remarked, "Not exactly, but it will be pretty fun."

Lazuli wheeled over to Angie and presented Angie with the tiara and necklace made of sunstone. She stated, "Angeline, you'll need these as protection from some of the blows of the suit."

The winged woman now knew what was going on. She smiled as she inquired adventurously, "You want to spar with me? I warn you, Zoey, I'm not just a pretty little SD from London, Ontario that doesn't know self defense."

"Good, because I'm not going to go easy then, feathers." Zoey teased back.

Angie put on the necklace and the tiara confused as to how the gems would protect her, and then suddenly she emitted a pulse of light.

"Wh-wha-what's happening to me!?" Angie exclaimed, the transformation had begun. She floated upwards and her wings increased in size, able to help her fly. She saw her clothing magically shift from her overalls to a more feminine outfit. Her ponytail became longer and there was now a streak the same pastel orange in her hair  
in her right hand was now a magical girl wand with a winged multimark as the casting gem. She descended to the ground graciously as sparkles rained down. 

Nellie's eyes lit up with excitement, she jumped up and down and gleefully squealed, "OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE A MAGICAL GIRL!!!!"

Angie looked at the wand, her white and action red school girl uniform and her shimmery ruby ankle boots before she exclaimed, "Nice! I used to read Sailor Moon all the time. Maybe I might stand a chance against you after all, Zoe."

Suddenly, coming running up to the gate was Dusk and Sapphirra. The teal haired humanoid diesel saw Zoey and Angie and called out, "Hey, don't start the battle yet. We just got here!"

Nellie turned around to see the one at the gate, and she was FLOORED. A real Blue Devil CN GE C40-8W, and she looked how she imagined the humanoid form of one would look. Nellie's insides bubbled with envy.

Dusk went over by his sister and climbed up onto a flatbed truck to be able to watch the battle that would soon ensue.

Vesper laughed contently, "Glad you finally made it, brother."

Lazuli and Star were over by the station, ready. Lazuli looking over the guidelines for the battle briefly.

Zoey smirked, she was ready for combat, she stated to Angie, "Full audience. You ready?"

Angeline nodded silently, her eyes gleamed with determination.

The ginger in the wheelchair read off her papers, "Today we will bear witness to a sparing match between Angeline Shapiro and Zoey Krolik. The rules of the battle are as follows: 1) No dirty play, that means no hitting each other between the legs, no boob punching, no kidney shots, and no strangling. 2) No one is allowed to perish, if one is no longer able to battle for whatever reason, you must respect their plead for mercy. 3) Do not destroy anything that's not slated for scrap. and 4) Photography is allowed, but do not take videos for the internet as humans aren't supposed to know we are capable of making technology like this. Now, ladies, are you ready?"

Angeline called out to Lazuli, "Ready for combat."

"It'll be a cinch, so I'm definitely ready." Zoey answered cockily. 

Red the RS23 took a deep breath in and honked their horn from an opened shed door to commence the start of the fight.

Lazuli yelled out, "FIGHT!" and upon hearing that, the two leapt up into the air to start their battle.

Nellie glanced over at Sapphirra who was standing beside her and she asked curiously, "S-so you're real... Like... an ACTUAL blue CN?"

"OH! Hello. You must be Nellie, graciousness, you're adorable." The teal haired girl trilled happily as she looked upon the 5'3" humanoid switcher.

Nellie felt a little intimidated by the beautiful diesel and looked up to the battle above.

Angeline held her wand out and focused deeply, blasting a stream of sparkling stars towards Zoey. Zoey was stunned by a few, their bright flashing light causing her to become rather disorientated. Angie softly muttered, "Maybe it's like the manga," before she cried out as she took aim again, "Glittering Star Blast!"

Zoey heard the yell and darted out of the way using the suit's jetpack. 

"Oh fiddlefaddle!" the magical girl SD40 cursed as her sparing partner dodged the beam of orange and yellow sparkles.

"Maybe if you want for the attacks to hit me, you shouldn't cry them out before hand." Zoey taunted before she zipped towards Angie and grabbed her opponent by the ankles. She pressed her palms harder twice quickly against Angie's ankles and it activated the electropulse.

Angie yelped from being zapped by the electricity, she took aim at Zoey's hands with the wand shortly after and blasted with a light solar beam. 

The flash of light once again disorientated Zoey causing her to let go of Angeline, despite having done no actual damage, as the suit was fireproof. 

Angeline, once freed, flew downward towards the ground, swooping a few feet over the heads of her friends and the ones she didn't know all that well. She took aim again and softly spoke as she took aim again, "Solar Flare" hoping to disrupt the suit's electricity to stop Zoey.

However, the girl in the rabbit-eared mech suit heard the whisper all too well, and anticipated the attack. 

As the attack came flying towards Zoey, she braced into a ball, protecting all the wires from being damaged. It worked, although it did push Zoey back a bit and blind her for a few seconds too long.

Angie took advantage of the situation and flew towards Zoey who was levitating, trying to see again. The coppery-haired magical girl grabbed Zoey by the right arm and cried out as she took close aim at her opponent, "Princess Sunstone Glitter Glass Attack!"   
sparkles sprayed from the gem, but they were sharp shards.

Zoey closed her eyes and mouth to avoid her eyes getting glass in them or swallowing any, some did scratch and lightly cut her face along her left cheek, some amber oil trickled from the humanoid GP30's face. 

Angie let go of Zoey and shockedly covered her mouth, she didn't realize that it would actually hurt Zoey that bad. She stammered scaredly, "W-w-wait.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

But Zoey grabbed Angie by the ankles and started flying all the way up high, they could see the curvature of the earth from that height.

Lazuli stammered, "Oh no... oh no... not Falcon Death Drop! That's not allowed"!

Nellie overheard that and she saw Zoey plummeting head first holding Angie. She cried out as she saw them descending fast, "STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP! I DON'T WANT ANGIE TO DIE! STOP IT, PLEASE ZOEY!" The humanoid SW1001's eyes flowed with tears of panic and anxiety.

Zoey heard Nellie's please and as they approached the ground she could see her best friend's state. Zoey and Angie were about 7 feet from the ground and the brunette swooped upward, pulling out of the death drop. She didn't want to hurt Nellie, she just was jealous of Angie. Zoey let go of Angie and the two flew down to the ground to fight there instead.

Everyone cheered as they landed. Angie looked a tad winded, she wanted to stop the fight.

Zoey asked Angeline softly, "I know you're tired, but can I try out one last thing? I PROMISE it won't hurt."

Angie sighed and replied exhaustively, "Fine, but I get to keep the tiara and necklace."

"Okay, I'll let you keep them. Now please let me try the thing." The brunette stated impatiently before she took aim with her palms at Angie and softly muttered, "Destructo."

The deep purple stream didn't really work, it made a little puff before dissipating. 

"Destructo?" Zoey asked again, once again, the same problem. 

Angie snickered a bit at the failed attack.

Zoey looked at the palms confusedly seeing the purple glow get stronger, she muttered, "Oh fuck!" and aimed her palms away.

The blast barrelled towards Neil who was parked on a siding in the yard nearly hitting him, had it not been for part of his hood being missing.

He exclaimed aggressively, "YOU ALMOST KILLED ME! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Zoey and Angie stared at what almost happened, Zoey erupted into laughed which caused Angie to laugh a bit too, but out of nervousness.

Nellie ran over and hugged Zoey and Angie excitedly, giggling joyfully, "That was awesome. I thought you were going to kill Angie, but you fooled me pretty good. That was cool as hell!"

Zoey and Angie both smiled at the switcher. The brunette replied, "It was the plan." 

Angie rolled her eyes and scoffed with a smile, "I wasn't even that scared."

Zoey then called out to the rest of those who came to watch, "Who wants to go get some DQ?"

To Be Continued


	37. Concerned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie tends to Zoey's wound because she's worried Zoey will bleed a lot
> 
> oleophilia - like hemophilia (a disease where you have less platelets in your blood so you bleed more) but some trains have that
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo of deviantArt  
> Angie the SD40 is my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

Zoey headed into the station with Nellie, her cheek still trickling 'blood' from the battle. Blotting up some of the amber oil with a tissue. She placed some hand sanitizer on her other hand before putting some on the cut, making her wince a bit at the stinging.

Nellie ran to get the first aid kit, taking it down off the hook on the wall and hurrying back to her dispatcher and best friend.

The ginger clad in black and red opened up the kit to look for some gauze and a small sheet of opsite medical tape.

Zoey picked up Nellie's compact brush that Nellie forgot on the table and opened it up, using the mirror to assess the damage.

The scratches were visible, another cut had already blotted with a medium grey scab, and the would that was still bleeding was trickling a bit but it was slowing.

"I found it," Nellie stated as she made a bandage out of the small piece of gauze she cut and the opsite before gently placing it on Zoey's cheek over the cut that was still leaking the amber blood.

Zoey chuckled and replied softly, "Nellie, it would've probably been ok."

Nellie responded, her voice ringing out with worry, "But when you leak oil, you REALLY leak, and then you could get ill.."

This befuddled the brunette as she quelled confusedly, "Nellie, I don't have oleophilia, GMD didn't make that mistake with me."

The ginger blinked her grey-ish blue eyes, she was so used to dealing with this with the other GMD GP30 when in British Columbia. Nellie looked down embarrassedly and sighed, "I'm sorry I was foolish."

Zoey wrapped her arms around Nellie and held the little humanoid switcher tightly before kindly remarking, "Don't fret, Nell, I appreciate your concern for my safety, it's really sweet."

Nellie hugged Zoey back super tightly, she was so happy to not be chastised for her concern and anxiety for her friend's safety. The humanoid SW1001 thanked sweetly, "Thanks for actually joking and not killing Angie. I like you both, and I wouldn't want either of you gone."

The pale skinned brunette nodded silently, feeling guilty for almost killing her old friend out of jealousy. Zoe put her feelings aside as she remembered why else she came inside. She went to her desk and got the company bank card from the drawer. With a smile she then said, "Alright, ice cream time."

Nellie retorted with a nervous chuckle, "Um... I don't think Dairy Queen opens for another half hour."

Zoey looked at the clock and facepalmed lightly, Nellie was right. She remarked jovially, "Well then, guess we have a bit of a wait ahead of us when we get there, but we will be the first ones to get some blizzards there." Then beginning to take off her armour to be in her normal street clothes beneath it.

To Be Continued


	38. Lesbians and Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie sits at the other table because there's not enough space, and in the process makes a new friend at the same time Angie does.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt  
> Lazuli, Vesper, Dusk, Red, Star, Sapphirra, and Angeline are my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

Zoey, Lazuli, Vesper, Dusk, Nellie, Red, Star, Sapphirra, and Angeline all began their walk over to the Dairy Queen a few blocks away.   
Star happily barreled down the side walk pushing her girlfriend, happily shouting, "Hoooonk! Two little diesels coming through."  
Lazuli laughed and exclaimed joyously, "Faster Stardust! This is fun!!!!" while holding onto the arm rests of her wheelchair.

Nellie dawdled along at the back, she didn't enjoy walking as she often got left behind. She felt small and weak and then suddenly she noticed another falling behind in the group, it couldn't be though, right? I mean Blue Devils are strong and this one in human form had a skinny human form.  
The fox-eared girl remained silent as the humanoid GE C40-8W walked slower to be closer to Nellie.

"Hello again," the tall teal haired lady greeted to the girl who was all of 5'3"

Nellie softly replied with some anxiety in her voice, "H-hi again..."

Sapphirra softly remarked, "I don't understand the hurry the others have. It's not fair to you, you're taking your time and enjoying the scenery."

The portly ginger girl was about to correct Sapphirra, but she was embarrassed and so remarked instead, "It doesn't feel nice to be left behind."

Sapph looked down kindly at Nellie and remarked as they fell back another few feet from the rest of the group, "Well, this time you won't be. I'll stick by you. I like being able to slow down too from time to time, it's much nicer than always kicking cars or barreling from place to place."

"OH MY GOSH, IS... IS THIS BLUE REALLY LIKE ME?" Nellie silently thought to herself as she walked along side the girl, her eyes twinkling in awe and jealousy. Nellie remained silent for a bit until Sapphirra spoke up again.

"I really like your little bow."

Nellie looked to her braid that was flung over her right shoulder today, down at the little pink bow she used to fasten the end. She remarked embarrassed, "Yeah, but it's kind of silly and babyish."

"While some may think that, I think it's a reflection of your sense of whimsy, awe, and how you aren't afraid to wear your heart on your sleeve. That I think is admirable, seeing as a lot of the CN fleet seem to glance up at Canada Day fireworks and just say 'meh'" Sapphirra stated knowledgeably before adding, "And honestly, you're an adorable ginger. Were you always a ginger regardless of railway?" 

Nellie explained almost proudly, "When I was in the sun more in a warmer climate when I was new, it looked more strawberry blonde, but with age, it's changed to be more of a pale auburn. It's really special to me, I bet yours is too, just looking at it."

The teal haired lady smiled and laughed, "Well, somedays yes, somedays no. While it wasn't always this blue, I've had it for years and years, as you can tell by how long it's gotten. Sometimes it's a bitch to take care of, and I think of joining some of my sisters and going CN roster colours so my human form doesn't..."

Nellie interrupted with some worried hesitation, "I strongly recommend you don't... from my own experience, it wasn't fun. Sorry to interject and to try to sway your opinion."

She laughed softly, answering back looking across the street at a tech support place that a brilliantly blue sign, "Don't worry, I probably won't change. Rail fans almost faint when they see me roll by, if they saw my human form, they'd all flock to me. But..."

The fox girl listened in curiously after she inquired, "But humans aren't your taste?"

Sapphirra continued, "Guys aren't exactly my type, and there's a lot of guy railfans online. To one of them I'd merely be a trophy. And after all, I like girls more."

Nellie replied right after, not thinking about possibly dating Sapph, "Me too! Well... kind of... I'm sort of ace and aro right now, it's a long story."

They were about to continue talking when they caught up with the group across the short bridge, the Dairy Queen just opened.

"You two caught up at the perfect time," Zoey called back to Sapphirra and Nellie, "They are just opening up for the day."

Once the worker unlocked the doors, the small flock of humanized diesels all entered the fast food restaurant to get some Sunday morning ice cream. 

Zoey held up a piece of paper and a pen before saying to her large group of friends,, "I am going to pass around this sheet. Please print neatly so the workers can read, and please remember they cannot mix flavours, sorry Dusk."

Each of Zoey's friends, as well as Zoey noted down what kind of ice cream treat they wanted. When it came to Sapphirra she wrote down 'medium cherry shake'. 

Nellie wrote down mint oreo blizzard as she asked to her walking buddy, "So you like cherries too?"

Sapphirra nodded and looked back at the list and saw someone else put medium cherry milkshake too. She opened up a pocket in her white cargo shorts and pulled out some cherry chapstick to show Nellie before stating, "I might be blue, but blue raspberry takes second place. Cherries are amazing."

The sheet was passed forward to the til once Nellie handed it back to Zoey, and then after Zoey payed with a quick tap of her card, nearly everyone was sitting at the largest stretch of tables with Zoey, unfortunately not leaving a lot of space for Sapphirra, Nellie, and Angie, so the 3 went and sat at one of the last tables over by the booths closer to the back. 

Nellie sat on the side away from the windows, seeing as the booths were made for people who were size medium or less. She awkwardly smiled at the two, but she was worried that she'd make a fool of herself in front of Sapphirra AND Angie.

Angie looked at the teal haired woman, her wings tucked nicely behind her back as she asked, "So, you're one of CN's rarest diesels, huh?"

Sapph smiled and laughed, "Why yes, and you're one of the last fleet with the multimark and the peppermint stripe. Let's be real, CP's current paint is really..."

"Boring? Yeah, it's really a glow-down from the multimark days." The bespectacled purple eyed girl remarked as she looked to Sapphirra who sat beside her. 

Sapphirra looked to Nellie and then apologized quickly, "Oh right we were talking earlier."

Nellie remarked, "It's okay Sapph, it's no worry."

"What were you two talking about?" the winged girl asked as she played with a clicky pen that she had in her pocket.

Nellie didn't want to say and remained silent.

"That she's ace and aro now," Sapphirra chimed in quietly making Nellie suddenly feel panic.

She stammered, "Sapph! Th-that's really personal!" She glanced over at Zoey's table, happy no one was listening because they were all chatting away happily.

"That can't be right, Nel. I've seen the way you've looked at me sometimes. I'm pretty sure you're gay." The humanoid SD40 proclaimed 

Nellie was quiet as she tried to come up with a rebuttal but she caved and replied softly, "It's kind of complicated."

"You got dumped by Jackie and you don't feel like you should date another girl because you're scared that you'll hurt her the same way, right?"

Sapphirra looked at Nellie rather surprised, she softly asked in a very naive tone, "Why ever would someone dump such an adorable little switcher?"

Nellie interjected, "I'm not all that innocent. A-AND... Can we please not talk about this? I really don't like that chapter of my life, and now that I can maybe make amends and be friends with Jackie I need to repress my memories of then and of dating her so then I don't bring it up."

Both girls looked at each other and then at the SW1001 shockedly before the iterated in unison sternly yet gently, "That's not how it works."

Sapphirra remarked with a happy trill, "Nellie, it's not as straight line as that. So you messed up with a girl you liked, that doesn't mean you can't like girls anymore. You need to get back on the horse."

Angie interrupted with a laugh, "But don't date a centaur. They're very unpredictable."

A worker came over and asked, "Mint Oreo Blizzard and two cherry shakes?"

Sapphirra and Angeline both stated at the same time, "I have the cherry shake," before they looked at each other in shock and awe.

Nellie silently accepted her blizzard and ate a spoonful looking at the two girls, wondering what was happening.

Once the server left the shakes and walked away from the awkwardness, Angie stated with a giggle and a blush in her cheeks, "Well, well, I didn't know CN had long haulers with such impeccable taste."

Sapphirra giggled and sipped on her milkshake after she remarked, "Well, same can be said for you. I mean and on top of that, I might look like a shed-time story 'angel' but you actually have wings."

Nellie was shocked, two diesels, right in front of her, just literally fell in love because they both like cherries. She politely excused herself, "I'll leave you two lesbians alone now..." before she went and sat at a booth and facepalmed. Why was it so easy for others to just pick up a girl, and Nellie would be forever alone because of her sins and every diesel that she liked just kind of started dating someone else or now disliked her. She sighed and resumed eating her blizzard, hoping she would just be maybe forgotten here so she could be alone with her feelings right now.

To Be Continued


	39. Where'd My Fox Go?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey sees an absence of Nellie and worries so much her nose distorts
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo   
> Lazuli, Vesper, Dusk, Red, Star, Sapphirra, and Angeline are my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

"That test was really wild, sis!" Lazuli exclaimed excitedly as she took a break from her chocolate milkshake, handing it back to Star so she could have a sip.

"So you weren't gonna kill Angie? Right, Zoe?" The pink clad humanoid SD60 asked as she bit her dilly bar, she continued after swallowing what she ate, "I mean you and her are besties, right?"

Zoey laughed and remarked as she glanced over at the other table, "Me, kill Angie, pfft, nah. I mean, she's getting a little too close to Nellie and Nellie doesn't need that right now, and..." Zoey stopped and her nose twitched as she looked around the restaurant.

Star quietly screamed as she put down her drink, "Brain freeze! Owie!"

Zoey didn't hear this, she looked around worriedly. She then turned to Red and asked with a worried tone, "Wh-where'd Nellie go?"

Red shrugged and remarked with a smile, "Pfft, maybe she stayed at home? Ya know, depression and all."

Zoey looked over the ice cream list she got back and saw near the end of the list 'small mint oreo blizzard' and she shook her head, answering, "She came along, I'm worried she walked home."   
The brunette stood up and walked outside and looked down the road, her nose twitched more fearfully. She placed her hand upon her nose and felt it was bumpy. Zoey bolted in and ran to the ladies room. Her eyes laid upon a sight she wasn't happy about, her nose was now similar-ish to Nellie's but instead pale brown. She softly stated, "Oh fuck..."

A sound broke Zoey's train of thought, the voice of a familiar little switcher, complaining about a booth. She quickly applied some snow coloured concealer on her nose tip before hurrying out to see Nellie in a small booth a little stuck because the SW1001's human form's rotundancy.

Nellie softly pleaded, "Please don't tell the others."

Zoey helped Nellie out with ease, pulling her out of the tight spot with a soft smile and a slight chuckle, "Never, so why are you sitting here?"

"I... became the third wheel. I think Angie and Sapph are gay now... for each other."

Zoey kind of smiled, yeah, she thought Sapphirra was hot but she had eyes for another. She encouraged kindly, "Come sit at my table, I'll ask Red to move over, you shouldn't have to sit alone."

Nellie showed Zoey the empty cup the blizzard was in and remarked, "But, I'm out of ice cream, then I'll just be a weird outsider."

Zoey laughed, "Well I finished my brownie dough one already, let's be weird outsider non-icecream folks together."

The ginger laughed, accepting Zoey's invitation, and the two headed to the table where the other 5 were sitting.

To Be Continued


	40. What About Rainy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie and Zoey go to see Rainy, we get a glimpse at what's going on in the 'toonverse', and Rainy states his observations.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt  
> Lazuli the GP20-ECO and Lucy the 4-4-0, and Angeline are my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Rainy is a part of me too.  
> Ellie the SW7 in all forms is a part of me  
> Duncan belongs to TTTE and Mattel  
> Farnsworth the BL2 belongs to MCA Universal Studio

Zoey excused herself and Nellie from the little ice cream party at Dairy Queen after leaving her little sister, Lazuli, in charge of the small group of humanoid diesels.  
Nellie was befuddled as the humanoid GP30 lead her out of the restaurant and to the train tracks across the parking lot. She exclaimed as she metaphorically threw her brakes on as she stopped following her best friend, “Wait! Wait! Wait! Zoey, WHERE are we going? I know I agreed to follow, but I wanna know.”  
Zoey laughed as she looked back at her fox-eared friend and remarked embarrassedly, “Oops, I forgot to say. I wanted to go check on Rainy, but I didn’t want to just leave you there with everyone in case they’d ask hard questions.”  
“Damn girl… You know me well.” Nellie admitted, realizing how embarrassing that was that Zoey knew how the ginger’s anxiety worked. She then silently followed Zoey as Zoey resumed traversing to the CN line by the Shell Gas Bar.  
Zoey focused hard as she placed her feet on either rail facing southeast before shifting forms to her true form. She called to her best friend, “Come on, Nell. Hop on board.”  
The 5’3” ginger clambered up her friend’s steps and placed her hands on the railing for accessing Zoey’s cab.  
“Don’t you wanna go in the cab again and help me honk at the crossings?” the royal blue and white diesel encouraged happily, as she rang her bell to indicate she’d be starting to roll down the rails shortly.  
Nellie thought before she answered and responded, “Can I ride out here? It’s a bit warm today.”  
Zoey chuckled and responded, “If you’re sure of yourself, Nellie. Just hold on well to the railings. I don’t want you falling off.”  
The stout and ginger humanoid diesel gripped onto the railing good before her friend started forward causing Nellie to giggle excitedly. She never had the courage to do something so fun yet reckless before.

Zoey intentionally breezed down the rails at a calm 15 km/h, softly stating in a sing-song voice for Nellie’s amusement, “Going down the tracks, with my best switcher friend.”

Nellie responded back in her tone deaf singing voice out of joy, “Gotta hold on tight or I’ll fall off and die.”

Zoey responded now in full song, “If you do that, my world would be dark and grey.”

Nellie sang back with a smile as she gripped to the rails, “Then, my friend, alive I shall stay.”

The two started to laugh at their little impromptu song. The GP30 numbered 5001 remarked proudly, “Your sister would be so impressed by us for breaking into song like it’s a cartoon.”

“Pfft. I mean she breaks into song at least three times a month. But I mean she IS a toon.”

Meanwhile, somewhere not too far south of Canada by a mountain, a little blue switcher was switching train cars for her Uncle Farnsworth. She came to a stop just before coupling up to the dining car. 

“What’s wrong Ell?” Duncan, or rather a human Duncan from a different timeline who was Ellie's engineer-boyfriend, stated in his practiced North American accent voice. 

The sky blue and chickadee yellow SW7 looked dead pan into an invisible camera and softly remarked, “My sister and Zoey sang a song in the real world like it was a cartoon.”

Duncan scoffed and rolled his eyes at the mention of Ellie’s sister. He was bitter towards Nellie on account of Nellie causing him and Ellie to lose their jobs up in Canada.

Ellie continued, naïve of Duncan’s grouchiness, “I’m so proud of them. A little toon magic in the cold real world makes it that much better.”

Lucy puffed into the yard to collect more wood for her tender, she greeted Ellie with a gracious ring of her polished brass bell. 

Ellie greeted back, “HM-NM! Hi Aunt Lucy! I just had an idea! Let’s go to Winnipeg next weekend!”

The elegant purple and black steam engine smiled to her little diesel niece and answered with a smile, “I mean, only for a little bit. This Sunday I’m on ‘lease’, dear.”

“OHHH that means you’re gonna go see Jupi, right?” The sweet little diesel remarked, her eyes sparkling as she ‘stood’ taller on her trucks with joy.

The funnel faced 4-4-0 steam train giggled and remarked, “You’re a smart little one, Ellie.”

“B-but you’ll come to Winnipeg then with me? Pretty please, Auntie?”

Back in Winnipeg, in one of the sheds of the CN Transcona Shops, the two BUNX diesels arrived at the shed that Rainy was being repaired in. 

Nellie hopped down from her friend’s pilot to allow the GMD GP30 to shift forms to become a humanoid.

The two girls entered the shop to see the SD40 snoring and with his bare metal showing. 

Nellie jumped a bit at the sight and covered her eyes. She stammered in shock, “R-Rainy?! What the fuck, I thought your paint wasn’t that fucked up. You’re naked! What the fuck?!”

Rainy opened his reptilian like eyes and looked down at the SW1001 and laughed back at Nellie, trying to turn her words back on her, “Well, I mean, you’re a pervert for looking then, Gingerbread.”

Nellie sulked as she turned away, huffing, “So you know my old nickname is Banana Bread?”

“Pfft, it’s so common that people and diesels refer to you as that or Negative Nellie.”

Zoey sighed and rolled her eyes before she asked Rainy, “So how’s Beth and Jeff doing?”

“Well, the primer is going to be started to be put on me tomorrow, and I really am dreading the new CEMR paintwork on Thursday. It’s ugly as fuck.” The SD40 admitted uncomfortably, the shop lights reflecting off the deep grey scales on his grey face.

Nellie hugged tugged at the bottom of her shirt, remembering the pain of repainting and how it takes forever to adjust.

The CEO of BUNX piped up contently as she placed her hands on her hips trying to seem in charge, “Rainy, I think I know what I asked for and I’m over ruling the new paint work proposed by CEMR and CanDo. You saved my sister, after all.”

He rolled his eyes and joked, “Sure thing, ‘Jan’,” before looking again to the fox eared girl’s back. He remarked, “Aw, come on, Nell. I was only joking. Plus it’s not like you can see my mechanisms.”

Nellie begrudgingly turned to look at her SD40 coworker.

“There’s my old crime buddy,” he teased before sounding serious, “So, how are you and Star managing with the night shift to rearrange the yard and to get fuel rations?”

Nellie remarked, “We’re doing alright. Though, I can’t hold a candle to your silent switching skills, Rain.”

He remarked, “Well, I’m going to be honest, it’s nice seeing some familiar faces again. Thanks for stopping, by again Zoe, and for dragging along Nellie.”

“She didn’t drag me, I came here of my own free will,” the ginger bluntly stated, her stare blank with confusion.

Rainy laughed and smiled, “Ahahaha, good ol’ Nellie. Taking things too literally, I’ve missed that too.”

This caused the humanoid SW1001 to smile. Almost everyone loathed when she missed the mark and was a ‘smartass’, and this was a breath of fresh air for her. She thanked joyfully, “You don’t know how much that means to hear, Rain.”

He chuckled, “Don’t get mushy on me, switcher.” The SD40 looked up to the ceiling lights and remarked, “Well, don’t you girls have to go to your little ice cream date?” before the girls could answer he continued, “Don’t tell me you don’t like each other. I see how fond you are of each other, and you two seem like you’re a little too scared to admit you’re gay for each other.”

Nellie choked on her breath and began coughing intensely.

Zoey responded matter-of-factly, despite her crush on Nellie, “Rainy… your gay-dar is WAY off. Anyways, you were right about ice cream anyways, the members of BUNX, Red, some CP engines and some CN engines are there right now. We just popped over to see how you were doing.”

“Well, next time, could you bring by some KFC? I would kill for some, but ya know, killing is immoral or something,” the grey SD 40-2 snickered.

Zoey laughed and remarked, “Maybe, only time will tell.”

Nellie called back to Rainy like it was old times, “See ya later alligator.”

He called back, “In a-while, but I’m a crocodile”

Nellie and Rainy laughed before Nellie and Zoey exited the shop and closed the door, looking at the bright blue July morning sky.

“So, back to DQ then, Nellie?” the brunette cheerfully suggested as she tried to subconsciously take Nellie’s hand.

Suddenly, a quick honk from an intensive and proud honk of a powerful P5 disrupted Nellie from talking. 

The two turned to look to see where it came from, and about 15 feet away was a shiny Norfolk Southern GE C40-8.5W. His eyes, which matched his livery, looked upon the ginger girl and remarked, “Well, uh-uh, I-I never thought I’d see you again, Nellie.”

Zoey stared at the large diesel before inquiring, “Who the hell are you?”

To Be Continued


	41. Zoey Fucking Loses It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Upon Zoey seeing Nellie's old boyfriend (I MAY have made a diesel based off of Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park because during a weird phase during Jurassic World I had a huge crush on Ian), she starts making assumptions about her friend and gets angry.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt  
> Malcolm Goldstein the Norfolk Southern GE C40-8.5W (NS 8510) is my OC (Pronounced Goldsteen)  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

It was now nearly noon, in the Transcona Shops, and Nellie had happened upon a diesel who knew her from the past, while Zoey was curious of whom this stranger was.

Before the large diesel could answer Zoey’s question of who he was, the chubby fox eared girl ran up to the large diesel and exclaimed excitedly with open arms, “MALCOLM GOLDSTEIN!” 

The diesel shifted forms to being a tall bespectacled man, with wavy medium hair the colour of Lindor 90% cocoa chocolate, and wearing a black leather jacket and black torn jeans.

Nellie hugged the tall man and said to Zoey who was still a touch confused, “Zoe! This is my ex-boyfriend from before that asshole, and before your sister.”

He remarked as he pat Nellie on the head, “It’s nice to see you again, and didn’t I say you’d look amazing in black?”

Nellie looked at her red and black shirt, and her black jeans before laughing in agreement, “OH! Yeah, I mean it took a bit to get adjusted.”

Zoey stood silently, as her mind began trying to make connections. She came to a cold conclusion, causing her right eye to twitch with anger. She walked up to Nellie and remarked with half sweetness and half anger, “I know it’s a nice cuddly reunion, but can I speak to you for a second privately behind that box car?”

Malcolm remarked politely as his old flame stopped hugging him, “Well, I’ll, I’ll uh be right here if you two nice ladies need uh anything.”

Nellie knew she was in trouble, but she didn’t know what for, she silently followed her best friend behind the box car, anticipating trouble.

“… Did you date my sister because she reminded you of that man?!”

Nellie remarked defending herself with truth, “Wh-NO! Zoey I wouldn’t do that, what the hell.”

Zoey crossed her arms and huffed, “Oh really… So it JUST is a coincidence, that he has deep dark eyes and brown curly hair and is tall.”

Nellie stamped her foot down unknowingly as she retorted angrily, “Zoey, why are you offended if there’s a mere similarity? For notch sakes! You know how many diesels when they’re human have brown or black hair?! Like nearly 50%! So, just please calm down!”

Zoey’s nose twitched angrily as she remarked, “Wow, you need me to spell it out for you like you’re a factory fresher, huh?” Her voice got loud as she yelled at the SW1001, “I WANTED TO DATE YOU, NELLIE!”

Nellie stopped and stared blankly at the brunette, she looked frazzled and exhausted. She offered a hug, but Zoey pulled away.

Zoey calmed down before she apologized, “I’m sorry I screamed at you… but, if you did like my sister because she reminded you of Mr. Gold-whatever, then it really hurts.”

Nellie sighed as she took in all of it and remarked, “The thing about you dating me, we… let’s talk about that later, if that’s okay… Right now you’re hurt because I dated Malcolm before I met your sister or you.”  
The fox eared, grey skinned humanoid remarked as she placed her hand on Zoey’s arm, “Zoe… I loved your sister because she was her own diesel… well, that and she saved my cab several times, and the fact that I had abandonment issues so any kindness she showed me I took it as everything. Yes she happened to also be a brunette, but she’s a girl. You’re a girl… You both aren’t in the same category as Malcolm. Him and I didn’t work out because the distance.”

The brunette asked with some embarrassment in her tone, “So, there’s no correlation between Malcolm and your choices after Fang?”

“Honestly, after Fang, I forgot that Malcolm existed.”

Zoey shuffled her work boots in shame that she made such an accusation. She offered a hug as she asked, “I’m sorry, Nellie, can you forgive me for implying that you did something transphobic?”

Nellie hugged her dispatcher and happily remarked, “Yeah, but we still gotta talk later about that crush you have on me.”

Malcolm walked up to the girls and remarked, “Um… you know I heard all that… r-right?”

Zoey laughed and wanted to just go crawl into a corner and die.

“It’s okay, Malcolm, we were going to head back to Dairy Queen, if you want to tag along, we can catch up more and we can show you the rail yard we work at. Well, no, Zoey owns the company I work for now.”

Malcolm laughed in surprise and asked, “A diesel run lease co, huh? Well that might put Norfolk outta business.”

The three diesels all walked over to the line headed out of the yard, chattering about BUNX, before they stood upon the rails and shifted forms to their diesel formats and heading out to go back to the Dairy Queen they had been to earlier that morning.

To Be Continued


	42. Enter Malcolm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Malcolm comes back to the GWWD yard, and accidentally becomes the new favourites of Star and Lazuli. The downside is, Zoey cannot afford to buy him onto the team.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt  
> Malcolm Goldstein the Norfolk Southern GE C40-8.5W (NS 8510) is my OC (Pronounced Goldsteen), as is Sapphirra, Dusk, Vesper, Lazuli, Star, Angeline, Neil, and Red  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Pokemon belongs to Nintendo  
> Five Alive belongs to Coke Products Co.

As the trio approached the Dairy Queen parking lot, a sight caught their eyes.  
Vesper was with Lazuli at the Shell Service Station at one of the pumps.  
The adolescent ginger in the wheelchair was looking at the humanoid SD60 worriedly and asking with concern, “So I stop my transformation midway… and then I drink some diesel fuel and see if it tastes the same as the normal kind?”  
Vesper remarked, “Trust me kid, I drink up at the pumps half-diesel to scare humans all the time. It’s fun to make them horrified.”

Zoey broke form, changing back into a human quickly. However, it wasn’t exactly ideal for the GP30. Her gloves and workbooks were made from steel and transforminite, making her collapse to the ballast by the trackside while exclaiming,“Oof!”

Lazuli looked to see her sister collapsed on the ground and hurriedly wheeled herself to the sidewalk about 15 feet away.   
“SISTER!” 

Zoey calmed down and focused deeper until her gloves and boots no longer were beyond her human form’s strength capabilities. She ran over to her little sister and gave her a hug.  
Zoey sternly remarked, “Were you about to drink diesel fuel as a half-human?” 

“B-b-but Vesper said it was safe! She does it all the time.” Lazuli tried to reason, worried she was in trouble.

The brunette in blue soothed kindly, “Yes, but it’s not healthy for you, Laz,” before glaring at the ginger with the pink streak in her hair.

“Oh come on, ‘Mom’ let the kid have fun.”

Nellie shifted form as well as did her old flame, Malcolm coming over to see the humanoid GP20-ECO. She asked, “Is everyone still at DQ, Laz?”

“Nah, they all went back to the GWWD yard, and some are choosing to play the Puella Game.”

Red could be heard from across the Seine River screaming loudly, “PUELLA GEAR! HAHAH! BEAT THAT, ANGIE!”

Lazuli facepalmed softly and remarked, “I really hope Angie doesn’t humour Red.”

They all stood silently listening, no yelling to be heard at all, until

Neil shouted, “WILL YOU STOP PLAYING THAT DUMB GAME?!” twice as loudly.

“Congrats, Neil, despite that you’re the biggest prick ever,” Vesper joked lightly.

The small group of humanoid diesels quickly made their way back to the yard to find Star sitting on the ground using colouring chalk with Angie helping her draw a Pikachu.

“Miss Shapiro? What’s your favourite Pokémon?” The cerulean clad kid asked as she took a red piece of chalk out of the bucket.

Angie dusted her hands on the knees of her overalls as she responded, “Well, it’s been years, but, I think the Pokémon I liked the most was Dragonite.”

Star nearly dropped her chalk as she remarked, “But I thought you were more of a Quilava person or perhaps even Torchik.” 

Angie blinked her eyes in confusion silently before remarking as she adjusted her glasses, “Who?”

The blue eyed girl’s normally twinkling eyes dulled with annoyance as she decided to ask the question that would tell that Angie was so dated, “What gen of Pokémon did you play?”

Angie stopped and stared at the humanoid AC44 as she stammered, “W-wait… th-there’s more than ONE?”

Dusk was sitting on the office’s old station platform chatting with Sapphirra, he admitted, “Please don’t tell anyone on the roster.”

“Hey, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you like nail polish,” the teal haired woman responded with a friendly smile, “I know it would be cliché of me to go get my nails done, but I will as support for you. As long as I can bring Angie too.”

Nellie laughed a bit seeing everyone just kind of chilling and having a nice time.

Malcolm looked upon the yard and looked to Zoey, asking curiously, “So, uh, this is uh, uh, um, your whole yard? And are these all your workers?”

“Nah, this is the GWWD yard, we just camp-out here because it’s close to everything. Also, only those with a rabbit emblem on their outfit work for BUNX.” Zoey laughed, before she realized he wasn’t being silly on purpose, Malcolm was a bit… behind in reading between the lines.

Malcolm saw Star and walked up to her encouraging joyfully, “Hey! That’s a nice Pikachu! W-what else can you, uh, draw?”

Star looked up at Mr. Goldstein and answered with a bright smile, “Hi Mister! I can draw a lot of cartoon characters. Pokémon and Steven Universe are my favourites to draw.”

He knelt down on the concrete and took a piece of chalk and remarked in a voice that could lull an insomniac to sleep from how soothing it was, “I like Garnet from Steven Universe. She can see all the paths and possibilities. Like Chaos Theory.”

Lazuli noticed Malcolm too close to Star and wheeled over to make sure he wasn’t being predatory. She asked in a naïve tone despite the fact she knew the answer already, “Oh, what’s that?”

“Well, to put it short, imagine a butterfly in the rainforest, if it flaps it’s wings, it could rain in New York City.”

Lazuli looked at the brunet himbo waiting for him to continue, pretending she didn’t understand at all.

He thought for a second and explained, “You saw the scene in the first Jurassic Park with the water experiment right?”

Star and Lazuli both nodded 

As he explained he drew a line and then lines branching off of it and lines off the branches to almost convey his thoughts, “Okay, so because differences occur at any moment, the tiniest of variables can vastly change the outcome of something. It may be called Chaos Theory, but really it’s more like the math of possibility and figuring out how small variables can change things. It’s neat to think about it.” He lifted his chalk from the pavement and pointed it at the resting GWWD diesel number Say I switch that stalled out diesel over there an inch, my day could become better or worse.”

Neil looked at the black-clad humanoid diesel and scoffed, “As if you could move me, Pretty Boy.”

Malcolm smirked and smugly responded, “Okay, Old Timer,” before graciously walking over to the grouchy old MLW S13. He stared at the grey eyed former BCR diesel, doing some silent calculations before placing his hands on the pilot of the still-alive parts diesel.

Neil scoffed, “Human forms are weaker than diesel forms. Come on, weakling, you won’t stand a chance now.”

The dark haired humanoid from Norfolk Southern took a deep breath and with all his might, he shoved the diesel back

The wooden blocks chocking Neil’s trucks shattered into mere splinters as the 60 year old diesel went rolling back at a human’s jogging pace, slowing down slightly before his coupler hit the cement block at the end of the line before the fence, a few feet short of the switch to get to the line he was now stuck on.

Neil stared shocked at what all had just transpired. He huffed angrily, “You young folk have NO RESPECT for those who came before you! I…”

Malcolm turned, and with an icy stare crooned in his silky voice, “If I could push you as a human, I could crush you into rust-dust easily in my true form.” He turned to walk away, paused glanced back and remarked, “Now… Play nice, Boomer.”

Zoey and Nellie gasped and smiled in unison to see that Malcolm tamed the rude and crude Neil with hardly any effort. The chubby humanoid SW1001 stammered in shock due to fact the ex she thought as of gentle was so strong, “I-I didn’t know he could do that...”

Lazuli shouted as she heard that, “OHHHHHH FREAKING SNAP!”

The young ginger’s humanoid AC44 girlfriend cheered, “Thanks Mister!”

The bespectacled man happily continued to the girls in front of the station, “That’s Chaos Theory in action. Either of you have any questions?”

Lazuli stated innocently, “Can you join BUNX?”

“You could be the coolest sitter, and you could keep Neil in line and teach us about science!” Star excitedly pleaded.

The girl in the wheelchair wheeled up to Zoey and pleaded, “PLEEEEEEEAAAAASE, Sis? I promise I won’t ask for anything for the next 6 Christmases.”

The brunette girl adjusted with her glasses as she awkwardly stammered, “W-well… U-um… I-I…I don’t know, Lazuli”

Malcolm laughed softly as he knelt down to Laz’s level, “Lazuli… do you know how much it costs for a Norfolk Southern C40-8.5?”

“Lemme check,” Lazuli stated as she pulled out of the back pocket of her wheelchair a notebook computer and started to look it up.

Malcolm remarked, “Half a million.”

Zoey choked on her own breath as the ex-boyfriend of her crush stated such a high number.

Lazuli started crunching numbers.

“US-Dollars…”

Zoey felt light headed and started falling backwards.

Nellie caught Zoey and softly soothed, “Let’s go inside. Malcolm, you too. I don’t want you making promises to the girls that the books cannot keep.”

Lazuli and Star let out a sound of utter disappointment. 

Malcolm reassured gently, “Relax, kiddos, I-I’m uh, leased to CN for larger inter-yard switching for maybe, uh about t-two months. I’ll be stopping in the city on the weekends.”  
The two humanoid diesel women headed into the station with Malcolm to warn him.

To Be Continued


	43. Serious Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Three humanoid diesels, all of whom are adults head into the station to talk about serious stuff, also a look back into Nellie's past sins and a glance at Zoey's desperate side.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on DeviantArt  
> Malcolm Goldstein the Norfolk Southern GE C40-8.5W (NS 8510) is my OC (Pronounced Goldsteen), as is Sapphirra, Dusk, Vesper, Lazuli, Star, Angeline, Neil, and Red  
> Beezlebub the evil voice is based on a negative personality residing within me  
> Ellie Miller-Dawson is also a personality residing within me and she owns herself  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Tower and The Little Engine that Could 1991 belong to MCA Universal

The three entered the station and Zoey had to sit down at the brake room table as she started breathing heavily. Her brown eyes met Malcolm’s nearly jet-black eyes as she sternly exhaled, “PLEASE don’t humour my sister. We have less than 300k CAD as it is right now! Not only that, but we’d have to switch everyone over to ‘biofuel’.”

Nellie interrupted confusedly, “Biofuel?”

“Basically us eating human food meals 3 times a day and switching forms to be a cheaper form of fuelling up.”

“Is that why you keep food in the station?” Nellie inquired as she walked to the fridge to get something to drink.

Malcolm stared at both the girls and deduced half dumbly, “Are you two friends or something?”

Zoey stated quitely with a chuckle, “Hopefully an ‘or something’.”

The fox-eared girl got a coffee mug down from her spot on the mug rack and then turned to the two others in the station, offering kindly, “I heard that, Zoe… also, would anyone else want some Five Alive?”

Malcolm raised his hand indicating he wanted some citrus beverage too.

Nellie poured a mug for herself and the humanoid C40-8.5 before bringing it over to the couch where Malcolm was sitting, she remained standing, not really sure where to sit, for worry that Nellie would make Zoey jealous, or if that would make Malcolm feel insecure or unwelcomed while also making Zoey feel like the SW1001 liked her back.

Malcolm interrupted with a stammer, “A-aside from me… Uh, didn’t um, d-didn’t you and Zoey have to uh, to resolve something f-from um uh earlier?”

The ginger didn’t really want to have this discussion in front of Malcolm. Her greyish blue eyes reflected her anxiety as she remarked, “I… I don’t… I…” she decided to brave up and remark, “I know you mean well, Zoey, but I’m not ready for dating.”

Nellie got uncomfortable and decided to take herself and her Five Alive outside while Malcolm and Zoey talked.

The brunette looked at the door and then to Malcolm silently, feeling defeated. She waited until she was sure Nellie wasn’t possibly listening. The brown-eyed woman desperately began pleading, “Goldstein, PLEASE, please teach me what you did to make Nellie fall for you.”

“I-Uh, what?”

“I need her, Malcolm.” The bespectacled girl begged, nearly tearing up, “Teach me everything about making her love me.”

He was shocked this seemingly strong woman was showing her vulnerability to him.

“Does she like guys more? Do I have to revert?”

Malcolm stopped Zoey sternly, “No! That would hurt you and Nellie. From what I see, she likes you as you are… but only as a friend. You can’t MAKE Nellie love you, that’s not how love works.”  
He came over and sat beside her to be more reassuring as he gently suggested, “But, I can teach you what you need to do for you and her to bond better.”

Zoey’s nose twitched upon hearing this information. She needed to know what it would take; after all, if there was one fellow diesel she loved more than any other, it was Nellie. The GP30 didn’t know why, perhaps, she had a thing for broken-down girls. Perhaps, she wanted to heal Nellie’s pain. Maybe she just flat-out had a thing for sweet-heart ginger chicks that had fox ears.

The bespectacled brunette clad in blue answered pleadingly, “Please then teach me.”

Malcolm suggested, “Only on the condition that I can visit during the weekends when I’m in Winnipeg.”

Zoey scoffed and asked with a snicker, “That’s it? I thought you’d wanna take Nellie back or something outlandish that I wouldn’t agree to.”

“I would, but my heart is taken by another now. Also, I want you to have a turn with her too. She’s dated some dipswitches before me and you seem to care very much about her.”

The BUNX CEO adjusted her glasses as she answered truthfully from her heart, “She keeps on being trampled and her will to live was nearly extinguished earlier this month. I just want to see her flourish and have a chance as opposed to being treated like dirt. It’s awful to see-”

Malcolm stopped Zoey as he interrupted, “She what?”

“Oh… well, she tried to kill herself…”

Goldstein’s eyes widened in horror as he stammered, “Wh-what made h-her wanna do such a-uh horrible thing?”

The brunette explained, “She’s been through a lot since you left her. She’s dated a psychopath, she was saved by my sister, she had to leave Winnipeg, she made a bunch of friends but she let them all down, then my sister broke up with Nellie and Nellie went feral and ripped a hole in a shed and had to be arrested by RTC.”

Malcolm exhaled in horror as he heard all this, he asked, “Th-this is uh, the same Nellie as uh… my old Goldie Fox.”

“Afraid so, anyways, it didn’t end there. Anyone who was associated with Nellie or her sister Ellie, were all fired because it would be bad press to keep them at the company. After Nellie’s court date, word got out to other railways and other diesels of Nellie’s crimes and they ostracized her as she was escorted home by a friendly steam engine named Roger who was the original leading guy from the first incident of a train being ‘deported’ to another province.” Zoey miserably explained, she was slouched over because even just talking about all this stuff was nearly physically heavy to her, “And, then she came here. She’s been rented over and over by CN every business day of the week and now she’s back to her old life essentially. Then one day she snapped and took too much fuel line cleaner and my sister radioed Nellie ordering her to get her lines pumped.”

Zoey remarked as she remembered, "Oh, and she and a CEMR diesel were radio calling my sister when she wanted no contact from Nellie. Rainy, who is currently in for repairs, let his curiousity take hold and Nellie turned a blind eye for a month before encouraging him to get intel, until it blew up in their faces. Roger had to come back and try to level with the engines who became dangerously hostile towards Nellie."

Malcolm remarked, “Damn, that’s really dark… I wish I would’ve known so I could’ve helped her not cause all that trouble.”

The two sat in silence for a bit, thinking about how much trouble Nellie caused in the last 3 years and how much pain she must be in for atoning for her sins.

Malcolm sipped his mug of Five Alive as he remarked, “I guess you do really need to bond with her. It could save her from completing her plans to die.”

A voice hissed over the radio of the office cruelly, “Pfft, I’d like to see you try!”

“Hey! Uh, that’s Beezle!” Malcolm stated in shock before walking over to the radio and picking up the receiver. He commented as he radioed back, “You’re still tormenting the poor fox?”

“Oh, well, well, well! Look who’s back,” the voice hissed back to the bespectacled guy.

Goldstein retorted, “You’ve been tormenting Nellie since she was 5 material age! It’s time you stop!”

The voice sneered jovially, “I’d like to see you and ragamuffin try.”

Zoey called back angrily, “I’m not a fucking ragamuffin. Try the fuck again!”

“Oh my, mistake then,” the cruel woman’s voice cackled, “Buck Bunny.”

The GP30’s rage increased for being insulted in such a way that she turned the radio’s dial as far as it could go to get off that channel, ending up somehow hearing in on what Ellie was doing.

The sweet little SW7 sang off-key joyously not realizing she was heard, “Down by the train yard, early in the morning, a little switcher starts her day arranging the cars. Listen for Tower to scream at me and holler.”

The little diesel took a breath and was about to sing when a booming voice interrupted almost completing the song, “STOP YOUR SINGING AND GET BACK TO WORK!”

Ellie began laughing uncontrollably at how well that worked.

Zoey switched the radio to an empty channel as her and Malcolm began howling with laughing at how comedically well Ellie executed a means to annoy her yard manager. The brunette wheezed, “Ow hahahha my ribs!”

After the two subsided from laughter, Malcolm asked, “Why’d she call you a ‘buck bunny’? What’s that all about?”

“I’m a non-conventional girl.”

“You’re a lesbian?”

“Yes, but that’s besides the point.”

It took Malcolm a whole minute of thinking before he came up with another incorrect answer, “… Uh, you’re a Capricorn?”

“Aries actually, and no…” the girl hesitated and shuffled a bit before she stated, “I’m… I was… not built with a puella gear.”

Malcolm cocked and eyebrow, “That’s it? I mean, 1/3rd of NS women diesels lack a puella gear, I’m not going to think less of you or be ridiculous.”

“Yeah, but the reason it gets to me so much is that I can’t stand that I used to be a…”

Malcolm interrupted reassuringly, “Who you were isn’t you, though. Engines change, hell, I’ve had several engine upgrades that I don’t know what I was built as. Anyways, Zoey, you’re a beautiful young lady, and I think Nellie sees that way too.”

The brunette smiled at the mention of Nellie. Her heart fluttered as she thought about all the times Nellie said something positive about how she looked and how Nellie couldn’t even utter the GP30’s dead name. She answered, her voice sounding smitten with adoration, “Yeah, that’s really true.”

A voice, familiar to Zoey, came in over the radio, “Hello? Is Nellie there?”

Zoey walked over and answered, “Hey sis. It’s been a while, huh. So how’s island life?”

“Same as always, humid, lots of rain and there’s some forest fires.” The former CP 5000 diesel answered.

Malcolm went outside to go retrieve Nellie to take the call.

The voice of the first Canadian built GP30 asked, “How about the prairies?”

“Too much sun lately.”

Nellie almost burst into the station, asking excitedly, “Radio for me?”

Zoey nodded, letting Nellie take the receiver before exiting the station with Malcolm to let the girl chatter with her friend.

Malcolm responded, “So... uh, I um t-thought your sister didn’t like Nellie?”

“It’s REALLY complicated, Malcolm. Plus, Nellie has this weird thing where she wants to mend her mistakes.”

“Hey Mister Norfolk guy!,” Lazuli called, “Come draw with us.”

Malcolm walked over to the two young adolescent humanoid-diesels drawing with chalk.

Zoey silently prayed to whomever was listening that Malcolm would uphold his promise.

To Be Continued


	44. Joy Sapped Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> A quick glance at how quickly Nellie can get destroyed from being yelled at.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Beezlebub the evil voice is a representation of a negative personality residing within me.  
> Tracy is an OC of mine

A drizzly Monday morning through the window greeted Nellie as she awoke from a sleep after a night of a nice reunion pizza party.  
She looked around at the station seeing a GWWD office worker in their office already keying up a report on the water pipeline from Shoal Lake.

“I apologize if I woke you, but you should really sleep out in the yard with your friends,” the human coldly iterated.

Nellie internally flipped off the human before she got up and headed out of the station into the light rain. She hated Mondays. Well, no… she hated any business weekday.  
The ginger sighed as she looked up at the grey sky and sighed, “Perfect weather for today.”

Zoey came up to Nellie with a tray of iced coffee and creamy chocolate chills from Tim Hortons. She friendily greeted, “Good morning, Nellie. I got us all some caffeine to wake us up. Here have one!”

Nellie graciously accepted an iced hot chocolate that had chocolate mousse instead of whipped cream. She softly remarked, “Thanks so much, Zoe! This is one of my favourites.”

The brunette sweetly remarked after she sipped her iced frappe, “You’re welcome. Later if you want to, we can go to KP later to relax at the Valhalla automated spa.”

Nellie, oblivious as to why Zoey was being overly nice, responded happily, “That sounds fun! I can’t wait!” She drank the rest of her small iced hot chocolate over the rest of two minutes as Zoey delivered out the rest of the nice Tim Horton treats. Nellie threw the empty container it into the garbage and walked over to Zoey and gave her a big hug.

The brunette hugged back and chuckled, “It was just a drink, Nellie.”

“Yes, but you made my morning less glum.”

Zoey patted Nellie’s back as they hugged. She then stated, “Well, you know what today is. More CN.”

The humanoid SW1001 let go of her friend and walked over to the tracks, focusing deep and shifting to her true form. She let out a quick honk of her melancholic M5 before she trundled forward, calling back to her friend, “See ya, Zoey! Thanks for the drink, you’re the best!”

The SW1001 headed out the open gate and headed down the rail line to the CN yard before heading along the westward line to the practice yard.

Nellie rolled into the yard, smiling happily, feeling like everything was going to be okay, and then that illusion was shattered.

“JOLIET!” The EMD GP40 boomed aggressively, “WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T YOU SWITCH THOSE CAR CARRIERS ON FRIDAY?!”

Nellie froze as she answered, “The humans didn’t make me.”

The heavily freckled diesel huffed, “You’re just making excuses!”

“I…” the SW1001 uttered dejectedly as she trembled. She wasn’t having fun anymore. The joy was instantaneously drained from her day. She sunk down on her trucks as Tracy yelled more,

“YES! YOU! Do you KNOW how Slade would react if he knew his kid was such a lazy weakling who doesn’t do as she’s asked?”

Nellie didn’t answer as she knew it would get her in trouble. She silently got to work mending her mistakes from Friday before picking up her practice driver and brakeman. With a frown on her face and her engine’s RPMs dropping due to misery, Nellie moved the car carriers over to the north-most line of the yard.

The cruel voice cackled over her radio, “Hahhahaha! See? You have nothing to live for, Negative Nellie!”

Nellie collected her driver and brakeman and began her day, trying to keep up with all orders from Tracy even though she was supposed to not be under her own control because the students had to learn to operate an unruly diesel or one who couldn’t drive itself.

To Be Continued


	45. A Pair of Diesels At Kildonan Place Mall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is discouraged after a bad day at work, so after a phone call and a bus ride, she and Zoey do a little shopping-therapy and relaxation all while joking around and having heart-felt conversations.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Beezlebub the evil voice is a representation of a negative personality residing within me.  
> Tracy the EMD GP40 is an OC

The day at work was awful for Nellie.  
She was yelled at up and down the yard, her self-worth fell intensely from all progress she had made over the weekend.

When her day drew to a close, and her students left, she was approached by the grumpy EMD GP40.

“Joliet. What kind of shit was that?”

Nellie questioned, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t pull that fake-ass ignorance on me!”

The SW1001 averted eye contact because if she looked at Tracy ‘wrong’ she’d get yelled at more.

Tracy hollered, “YOU KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!”

Nellie stammered, “I-I-I actually don’t. I-I’m sorry.”

“Oh my fucking god, why do you apologize so much, Nellie?! Also, because you’re too DENSE to remember, when you were radioing to the shops when you had to pick up that UP that broke down, you stated you WERE arriving on a specific line. YOU DIDN’T ASK FIRST!”

Nellie defended herself, “Slade told me to tell CN where I was headed and to tell me if there’s an issue.”

Tracy rolled her eyes and angrily huffed, “Humans are in charge, not us!”

Nellie shifted to being a human and began walking away as she sternly stated, “Well, then I’m a human and I say that I’m leaving now!”

She walked away and to one of the human gates of the yard and exited before her supervisor could say anything.

Nellie regretted her choice, she had a long walk home and only enough change in her shoe for two bus fares.

She began walking a few blocks before a thought popped into the fox-eared girl’s mind.  
Nellie pulled out her cellphone and dialed Zoey’s cellphone number quickly.  
The phone rang after she pressed talk, she hopefully awaited to hear the GP30’s voice.

Zoey, meanwhile, had just gotten back to BUNX from another happy day at the CP shops yard, she was just about to open the flyer for Bianca Amor’s to see if any fantasy knives or cane daggers were on sale when her cellphone rang out the tune of ‘What Does the Fox Say’.  
The brunette answered her phone and happily answered, “Hey, Nellie. This is weird. You hardly ever call me with your cell. What’s up?”

Nellie exhaled and fidgeted with her ponytail as she stood at the bus stop. She softly admitted, “Hey, Zoe. I got upset at Tracy and walked away as a human. Now there’s no rail lines for blocks and blocks and I only have enough bus fare for two rides.”

The GP30 exhaled as she closed the flyer and responded, “Fucking hell. I’m sorry she caused that to happen. Good on you for walking away. So, do you need me to come pick you up, Nel?”

The ginger suggested as she looked down the road for the next 44-Route bus, “I was thinking I could ride to Kildonan Place Mall and you could meet me there.”

Zoey smiled as she remarked, “That’s brilliant thinking! Don’t worry I’ll pay you back. I’ll see ya at the mall.”

“See ya soon, Zoe.” Nellie trilled, it felt nice to be called ‘brilliant’ after being yelled at and made to feel like she was small and pathetic and useless.  
The bus arrived shortly and Nellie boarded.

Around about 6:35pm

Zoey stood by the entrance by Marshals at the medium sized shopping mall, playing a solitaire on her phone, once in a while she glanced up at the bus loop ahead of the entrance.

The fox-eared ginger got off the 44 bus and tried to walk with the crowd as to not be seen, she wanted to sneak up on Zoey because she hadn’t done so before.

Zoey busily moved cards around on her phone, racing the clock and trying to not have to flip over the deck on her game to get the best score, she didn’t notice her friend sneaking up on her.

Nellie walked cautiously on the pavement once on the side Zoey was on, spotting the brunette sitting at a bench using her cellphone. She cautiously walked right up to Zoey and sat down beside her quietly, pretending not to notice Zoey.

Zoey’s nose twitched as she realized there was someone beside her, but she instead glanced up at the bus loop.

Nellie remarked softly, “So, what are you waiting for then?”

The brunette looked over and with a chuckle replied, “Nellie! How’d you sneak up on me?”  
The grey-ish blue eyed girl responded proudly, “I just kind of did, and now here I am!”

The two girls headed out of the humid July weather and into the heavily air conditioned mall.  
The air was filled with a plethora of scents; the fresh scent of new rubber sandals at Ardene’s, the heavenly medley of fruity and floral scents from the Bath and Body Works store, the faint stench of perm chemical and conditioner at a salon, a hint of the scent of the ozone put off by the mall’s servers within the utility corridors, the scent of the 30 year old linoleum and that strange indescribable unique scent that all buildings have that were built in the 80s.

Nellie smiled as she drew in some air, remarking to her best friend, “I LOVE this mall”

Zoey laughed a bit, she didn’t understand how Nellie wasn’t as comfortable at Polo Park or St. Vital, hell, even at the Forks Nellie would sometimes be on-edge, however, here she was so thrilled to be there.

The humanoid GP30 handed Nellie a $50 bill and softly said, “We can shop first.”

Nellie tried to hand back the money stating, “No, Zoey, this is your money. It could be used to restock the fridge, or get half a barrel of train wash, or get you more blue hair dye.”

The brown eyed lady gently placed the $50 back into Nellie’s hand and patted the ginger’s hand softly as she reassured, “It’s okay, Nellie. You had a bad day; you deserve a little something nice.”

Nellie held the red bank note before starting her walk towards Claire’s, eagerly ready to look at the clearance rack for pretty headbands, cute necklaces, maybe a plushie, but especially a new cute cellphone case.

Zoey kept up with the eager portly woman. She stated as she walked beside Nellie, “So where are we going?”

“Claire’s, well, I mean the clearance rack only. Everything else is a bit too spendy.”

The two humanoid diesels walked past several stores until Zoey’s eyes looked upon the Bath and Body Works.  
The bespectacled lady quickly glanced at labels of each of the soaps.  
Apple pie dream, moonlit path, sugar and vanilla, lemonade and sunshine; all scents what were very suitable for the season.  
She was disappointed because her favourite out of all of the scents, Twisted Peppermint, wouldn’t be available for the next 3 months.

The duo made it to the white shop with a big mauve sign above. The shop’s contents were mostly to appeal to girls 4 through 16, but Nellie still loved this store.

Nellie’s eyes were drawn to all the headbands and cute bracelets, however, she wandered right by. She knew it wasn’t within her budget.

There, in the back corner of the neon and pastel paradise was the short rack of mismatched goods. Some old stuff from the long past Easter, headbands that were no longer produced, cellphone covers for the soon-to-be obsolete cell phones, and little cellphone charms, as well as lip gloss that wasn’t all that popular.

Nellie looked at the price tag of each item, picking off of the rack all the little trinkets and accessories she wanted.  
A rubber unicorn phone case, a glittery silver headband, a pink headband with a little bow on it, a plush unicorn for Ellie, some cherry lipsmackers, and a cute little squishy rabbit phone charm. She headed up to the front and all of the clearance rack treasures all together cost $10.55.

She went up shortly after, purchasing the little treasures and the change she casually put into the sole of her shoe where she knew it was safest to store her money.

Zoey was surprised how Nellie seemed to have a system.

Nellie reached into the bag, and pulled the price tag off of her glittery headband before taking off her black headband. She remarked as she put it onto her head, “I love that store’s clearance section. It always has nice things.”  
The ginger placed the black headband into her bag before pulling out the squishy rabbit charm and handing it to Zoey. The fox eared girl trilled as her brunette friend looked at the small toy with a little tether affixed to the foam toy’s head, “To say thanks.”

The brunette tried squishing the rabbit lightly and smiled. She thanked to the ginger humanoid-SW1001, “This is really sweet, thanks Nell.”

The two then headed down the hall of the mall towards the food court, and then down the shorter hall heading north-westward.

Towards the doors to the parking-lot, on the right side of the hallway, there was the little shop called Valhalla.

Himalayan salt lamps adorned the tables of the shop, as well as displays of scent diffusers. Some display units puffing out citrus scented vapour. To the left of the entrance way was an oxygen bar and to the right was a display selling different minerals and gems. All of this was wonderful to both the humanoid diesel girls.

Zoey softly remarked, “I booked us in for a double session on the hydro-therapy beds and then 10 minutes in the zero gravity vibro-pulse chairs.”

“But, it was last minute, no one gets a pair of 20 minute sessions for the hydro-beds,” Nellie scoffed in shock.

The brunette twitched her nose proudly once as she iterated, “Last minute cancellations are a blessing, that’s all I can say, my copper-tailed friend.”

Nellie smiled as she and Zoey entered the shop.

The brown eyed woman clad in blue proudly walked up to the clerk’s desk and said in her on-the-phone-style ‘business’ voice, “Hi, so I called earlier and booked for the hydro-therapy beds for us to use at 6:45pm.”

The clerk was caught off guard a bit and remarked in a soft friendly voice, “I do apologize, but we are still in the process of wiping down the beds to ensure your experience is not only relaxing, but sanitary. In the mean, time you two could do your zero-gravity experience first.”

Zoey remarked back in her office-manager like voice, “That sounds wonderful. Thank you.”

The two took off their shoes and were lead, sock-footed, into the first room on the left of the cabana tents in the shop.

The two girls entered the dimly lit room lead by the worker. Adorning the walls were canvas photographs of distant shores, mountains, and forests. Two sheets hanging from the ceiling and pinned to the wall were to give the illusion that it was a cabana tent too, and on the back wall’s shelf, there was a light up diffuser gently putting out a citrus scent and putting off a gentle orange glow, all while soft soothing harp music was playing.

Zoey got into the chair closest to the door as it also had leg massaging cuffs that Nellie was unsure about because of her human-frame’s bodaciousness.

Nellie got into the one furthest from the door, relieved she didn't have to worry about her legs being too big to fit the leg massaging machine

The clerk set the two chairs tilted so the zero-gravity effect would begin, gave the girls the remotes to set the pulses, and remarked, “Each pulse setting has a different means. The first one is relaxation, the second is sleep aide, and lastly, the third is stress relief.”

Nellie pressed the button three times and remarked, “Definitely stress relief please.”

Zoey selected relaxation.

Once the girls were all set, the set shop clerk set the timer on the wall and closed the door, leaving the two humanoid-diesels to relax.

Nellie’s speech was funny and shaky as she remarked, “This feels awesome, thanks Zoey.”

The brunette adjusted her glasses as she took advantage of the vibro-pulse making her sound funny, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Thiiiiiiiiis iiiiiiiiis sooooooo fuuuuuuuun.”

Nellie laughed so hard she giggle snorted. She tried to do the funny voice thing too as she remarked slowly, letting the vibrations make her voice go all weird, “Iiiiiiiiiiit feeeeeeeels nice onnnn myyyyy baaaaaack.”

Zoey continued with their games, “Heeeeeeey Nellllllieeeeee. Guuuuuessss whaaaaaat?”

“Whaaaaaat iiiiissss iiiiiit Zoeeeeeyyyy?”

Zoey took a deep breath and said as the vibrations still made her voice funny, “Puuuuuuuudiiiiiiiing.”

Nellie began laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know why the word ‘pudding’ was so funny to her. It was probably the randomness and the delivery of it, but it all the fox-eared girl knew was that she needed to calm down or she’d suffocate from laughing too much.

Zoey soothed, “Shhhh, I don’t want us getting the boot,” her voice still shaking from the vibro-pulses.

The ginger haired woman relaxed and smiled looking at the ceiling after a brief apology once she caught her breath. 

The two stared at the ceiling both relaxing, listening to the gentle music remained playing.

Nellie broke the silence after five minutes and softly remarked, her voice shaking from the vibrations, “So, how come you wanted to do this for me? I’ve been unbearable lately.”

“Shhhh, it’s ok, Nellie,” the girl the blue hue in some of her hair soothed, “You need a little bit of a break.”

Nellie fidgeted a bit with her braid’s bow as she asked philosophically, while her fox ears pointed back in sadness, “Am, Am I useless scrap? Am I a failure to my status as a switcher?”

“No, gracious no… Nellie, you’re a wonderful diesel. You try so very hard to function and do everything.”

“Then why do I screw up so much and so badly?”

Zoey soothed as she looked over at her gloomy crush, “Imagine a flower. A nice pale pink wild rose poking up through the pavement.”

Nellie nodded as she listened.

The brunette continued to explain gently, “Now imagine that flower, with the little nutrients and water it gets being trampled on and then being expected to flourish.”

Nellie felt a stinging in her heart thinking about that poor described flower, thinking about the times she felt like that.

“Is that rose a failure to flower kind for her bad situation and inability to grow and bloom like say a blue rose growing in a garden?”

Nellie giggled as she glanced over at the brunette and asked curiously, “Is that your flower-sona, Zoey?”

“Maybe,” Zoey said with a wink before sticking her tongue out playfully. She continued joyously, “Anyways, you know what I mean, right?”

The fox eared girl nodded again, her ears now in a normal position, “Yeah… Zoey? Do you want me to flourish and grow?”

“Oh, Nellie,” the brunette chuckled softly, “You’re always growing and learning, you’ve grown so much since we first talked,” she then paused and her tone got more serious yet still gentle, “And while you’re struggling to flourish, I’ll stay right by your side, helping you flourish as much as you can through all the pain and suffering. Even if the best you can do one day is just the bare minimum.”

Nellie felt tears of joy coming on, but held them back so she wouldn’t become red around the eyes, she smiled and remarked, “I really like these times when you give me pep talks and try to mend my fractured soul.”

Zoey was about to say something, but the timer in the room went off.

The two girls laughed a bit as the programming for the vibro-pulse chairs kicked off and they reset to being upright sitting.

The automated spa worker came into the room and greeted the girls as she remarked, “Time for your hydro-therapy bed experience.”

The two humanoid diesels excitedly stood up from the chairs and followed the lady out to the shop and then to the next room

To Be Continued.


	46. Nellie the Feeble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is subjected to being ripped down for a mistake and then literally beaten up over her failures.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Beezlebub the evil voice is a representation of a negative personality residing within me.  
> Slade the GE C44-9WL is my OC  
> Tracy the EMD GP40 is an OC

The two humanoid switchers enjoyed their 20 minute session both relaxing on the hydro-therapy beds at the automated spa and, after that, brought back to the yard two of the largest buckets of fries from New York Fries for all four humanoid diesels to share together.  
All the while, Nellie was oblivious to what the next day would bring.

Nellie awoke as usual, had a granola bar, a kiwi and a glass of milk, then headed down to the CN practice yards, and was greeted by Slade.

“Morning Dad,” the SW1001 remarked friendily as she went to the fuelling station in the small yard to prepare for her day of being driven about by learning engineers, “How was the night shift.”

He didn’t respond how she expected him to, retorting back at her, “What’s the trains that the humans have to prepare for today?”

Nellie was caught off guard and admitted calmly in a numb tone, “I do not recall.”

He scorned as he glared at the puny and weak little machine in front of him, “How do you not remember this? This is your whole job.”

Nellie would have to wait a bit longer to be refueled. She rolled down the line backwards and into the basic repairs shed and radioed to Slade as she glanced at the instructional whiteboard, not realizing her tone was too monotone, “The trains for today are as follows, a grain…”

The angered diesel numbered 2500 by CN hollered, “I DO NOT WANT A NEWS REPORT BY A ROBOT! WHY DON’T YOU TALK NORMAL, FOR NOTCH SAKES, NELLIE?!”

Nellie trembled and radioed back, her voice only a few decibels louder, “I didn’t intend for my tone to be wrong, I was just doing as you told me.”

He thundered down the siding and came right up to the shed, his eyes burning with anger as he yelled, “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO YELL AT ME! THAT IS SEVERELY DISRESPECTFUL! I STICK MY COUPLER OUT FOR YOU BY GETTING CN TO SHUNTING RENT YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?!”

Nellie stammered out an apology, fighting back tears as the demonic female voice on her radio cackled and mocked Nellie’s pleads for forgiveness

“HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE WORK OR WERE SCRAPPED?! THAT’S WHAT MOUTHY DIESELS LIKE YOU NORMALLY GET!” Slade hollered at the weak little switcher, hoping to drive home a moral to her, “At the end of the day, YOU’RE JUST PROPERTY, YOU HAVE NO SAY!” The large GE C44-9WL could see Nellie ‘absorbing’ the lesson through the fear he instilled. He barked at her to make sure this moral stayed sealed in her mind, “You’re property. You’re a diesel. Typically those at the bottom of the ladder don’t have a voice… got it? So, I want you to learn to talk proper and not have such an attitude.”

Nellie softly and apologetically stammered, “Y-yes Slade. S-sorry Slade, it won’t happen again, Slade.”

Slade glared at the diesel before rolling backwards out of the yard and then heading back to the shops to rest.

Beezelbub, the dark voice, decided the SW1001 wasn’t worthy of fuel in that instant and decided as she hissed over the radio, “446, you pathetic little worm, you’re not getting a single drop of fuel today unless the humans make you fuel. You can starve for all I care.”

Nellie tried to go over to the refueling station, but Tracy was now there, and had heard everything.

The GP40 huffed, “Uh, no! You should’ve fuelled up at your lame little yard! You don’t get ‘free fuel’ especially when you pull shit like that.”

Nellie gave up on trying to fuel up for the day, setting off to work with what little diesel fuel the tiny breakfast had turned into.

The voice hissed over the weak little diesel’s radio, “Come with me, dumb-shit!”

The SW1001 didn’t want to comply and she didn’t want to get in trouble, so she tried to dynamite her brakes, only for her brakes to not work. She found herself reversing into the repairs shed against her will. She couldn’t say anything because she didn’t want to look like she was crazy, nor could she do anything.  
The SW1001 was, against her will, shifted into a human, and culminating from almost nothing, was an ethereal being with the vague outline of a human.

Nellie was about to speak when the figure grasped her throat with its fingers and hushed the fox-eared girl.

The figure then, with her free left hand, made a fist and walloped the ginger upside the head hard.

Nellie slumped against the wall of the shed as she was dropped from being neck gripped.

Beezel’s projected vessel hissed joyfully, “You should’ve died when you had the chance… Look how many others loathe you,” before she yanked the humanoid SW1001 up by her wrists, pressing her thumbs down hard to bruise the fragile ginger’s grey skin.

Nellie prayed internally to whomever was above to protect her from the entity that was physically harming her, which made Beezel’s projection angry, letting go of the switcher before she dragged her sharp nails across the diesel’s right cheek, making it trickle Nellie’s blood, now darkened in colour due to her fleeting mental health.

The ethereal vessel dissipated and vanished as Nellie uttered her prayer underneath her breath.

The fox-eared girl placed her hand against where she felt warmth and some dampness, before pulling her hand away to a bit of the deep-brownish blood on her palm and fingers.

Nellie slumped against the wall once again, this time of her own vocation, and silently wept for the next ten minutes before her drivers found her and she had to begin her daily duties as a practice diesel.

To Be Continued


	47. Ferny Goes on his Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli and Star help Ferny with arranging a train he and his brother are taking down to the United States, and despite them being sad, they make plans for when he gets back to all hangout again.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is a part of me  
> Ferny, Lazuli, Star, Annanova, and Mitch are all my OCs

While Nellie was enduring a day full of misery, elsewhere at the BNSF Yard on Taylor Avenue, Lazuli, Star and Ferny were all working together to prepare a train Ferny and his brother 6969 would be taking out of town.

“Do you really have to leave town?,” Star asked, her voice sounding sorrowful that her new friend had to leave Winnipeg and wouldn’t be around for presumably the rest of the summer.

Lazuli remarked comfortingly as her driver assisted her in controlling the GP20-ECO in switching the cars, “It’ll be okay, you’ll be back, right Ferdinand?”

The friendly BNSF diesel, numbered 6935, answered with hope in his voice, “I mean, it might be a while, but I promise I’ll be back before September ends. And then I’ll be in Winnipeg for basic maintenance during October.”

Lazuli got an idea as her driver made her uncouple from the line of tanker cars she just hooked onto the train spanning half the length of the small train yard, “OH! We could all go trick-or-treating then on Halloween!”

The blue AC44 GE-EP exclaimed loudly and excitedly, “I wanna get free candy! I wanna trick-or-treat!!!!”

Ferny laughed and remarked, “Well, I mean I don’t have to dress up much, so sure! I’m in! When Halloween rolls around next, we’re going to on Wellington. People in fancy houses usually give out full-sized chocolate bars.”

Star squealed with delight, her e-bell ringing with excitement as she joyously remarked, “But also the costumes! I wanna be a unicorn!!!”

“I think I’ll bring along my launch pad and a fake turn table and go as a DJ. I mean, I already know how to play a few songs on it.” Lazuli eagerly suggested, thinking to herself about how cool it would be to be what she wished her job was if she wasn’t a diesel. She continued, “That or my other dream job, a lawful hacker.”

Star helped push some empty grain cars to a point for Lazuli to collect them. She looked to her friends and remarked, as the subject was changing, “For some reason, if I were a human, I’d want to work in a shipping warehouse, surprise everyone with my strength, even if I’m just a kid.”

Ferny laughed and remarked, “Isn’t that your job now more or less?”

“Yeah, but it’d be more funner as a human.”

Lazuli often would correct the ‘older’ diesels on improper grammar or non-real words, but with Star, she let it slide. The GP20-ECO remarked with a smile, “How about you, Ferny? What would you do if you were a human all the time?”

“I wanna work for a museum.” He began with a smile, looking up as if daydreaming as he spoke, “I could have thousands of artifacts, and be able to share them with everyone. Especially gems! Have you girls seen the largest amethyst extract found in Manitoba in the museum?”

Lazuli started looking it up using her on-board computer, seeing in a translucent computer window, that only she could see, a picture of it and she remarked, “Just looked it up, it doesn’t look very purple.”

“Bad lighting choice because warm hue lights work best for showing about the earth’s layers and such.” Ferny remarked, it was clear that every time he came to Winnipeg that he liked to stop in at the local museum.

Star inquired as she went to retrieve some empty grain hoppers, “We should also see the railway museum, if you haven’t yet.”

“There’s one here?”

Lazuli held back a laugh as she remarked friendily, “Yep, at the VIA station.”

Star suggested, “So now we have all our plans for when Ferny comes back! Go to the Manitoba Museum, go to the railway museum, and go trick-or-treating.”

The three young diesels all honked joyfully as the other ES44 approached the yard. He, like Rainy, had reflective scales adorning his face. He greeted in a very nonchalant manner, “Hey, you kids done yet? I have a date with a Santa Fe GP dude in three days and I wanna make it there before he heads out to Texas.”

Lazuli thought it was quite strange for a diesel to act this way until she thought about his number, she was no longer surprised. She was driven to move the cars Star had placed and connected them to the now completed train to head out of Winnipeg.

“I can’t wait to get some,” the diesel stated before he remembered he was around kids and adjusted, “cuddles and kisses from that handsome fellow.”

Lazuli wasn’t impressed that Ferny’s brother was such a stark contrast from the asexual ES44 they had made plans with.

Star remarked, “Wow! You have a boyfriend? Is he nice?”  
The mentally older ES44 answered, “Yep, I’ve known him since I was factory fresh. I hope someday, if he retires, that we can just up ‘n leave an’ go to Ontario.”

Ferny asked, “What’s in Ontario, Mitch?”

Mitch remarked as his green eyes looked eastward thinking about what he knew, “There’s an old factory that made diesels that shut down. The company still owns the grounds and it’s used as a train sanctuary. There’s U-Boats, GP7s, lots of ALCOs and MLWs, hell maybe some steam too. All of them retired or ran there to live a longer and happier life.”

Lazuli did some silent and quick research on the information before remarking, “Th… that’s where I was originally built!”

Star remarked, “WOW! Look up if there’s anyways to contact some diesels living there, there might be some old friends of yours.”

The chatter was interrupted by Ferny taking his spot at the head of the train cars.

Ferny bid sadly but yet contently, “Thank you, you two for befriending me. I’ll see you both when the leaves are falling.”

The two diesels tried their best not to choke up, waiting out of the way, watching as Mitch took his place ahead of Ferny, the two coupled up and then to the train.

Ferny and Mitch both honked loud and proud, bidding farewell to the BUNX diesels who helped them.

Star smiled, with tears in her sparkling eyes, she was excited for the fun times that would be when Ferny returned, but she was sad that he had to go.

Lazuli called out, as she too felt a bit sad, “Bye Ferny! Bye Mitch!”

Star yelled to the brothers as they left, “Have safe travels.”

Within a few minutes, the brothers and their train had crossed Taylor avenue and was now heading southward towards the States.

Over their radios, Zoey’s voice was heard.  
“Hey girls, how’d the job helping and then seeing Ferny off go?”

Lazuli radioed back, her voice humble and sad, “It was kind of hard.”

The large blue diesel interjected, “But on the bright side, we made plans for when he comes back.”

Zoey laughed and remarked over the two girls’ in-cab radios, “You two are a pair of good kids.” She then continued, “Come on back to the yard, and since it’s a short day and that was your girls’ one job, you don’t have to hurry.” The call ended leaving the two girls to plan which way to go home

Lazuli happily exclaimed, “Hey, Annanova, could you drive me to lead Star though Arlington? I think it would be a nice way to take back home.”

The driver in Lazuli’s cab remarked happily, “Anything for my diesel daughter and her girlfriend.”

Lazuli rolled forward with the help of her driver, and the two diesels headed on their way back to the GWWD yard.

To Be Continued


	48. A Broken Fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey tries to reason with a brainwashed and distraught Nellie and determines that Nellie needs a few days off for mental health recovery
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Beezlebub the evil voice is a representation of a negative personality residing within me.  
> Tracy, Red, Patricia, Star, and Lazuli are my OCs

Nellie approached the GWWD yard at 5:30pm, quite earlier than her normal time. She rattled into the yard, her innards working not quite right because her nerves were intensely racked after the day she endured.  
As she reached and stopped upon the area of rail that had an activation pressure spot, she announced with anxiety to the gate opener device, “446 requesting entry”, a slight stammer in her voice.

The light turned green on the gate’s device as the gate slid open to allow access for the tired and battered SW1001.

She hurriedly rolled past Red and Patricia who were switching cars about, and avoided making eye contact with Star and Lazuli who were looking for yard flowers to make a bouquet for inside the old station.

Nellie had finally made it and was about to turn human and make a run for it into the station, but a familiar voice of a GP30 greeted kindly, “Hi Nellie, how was your day?”

Nellie, felt her springs tighten on her trucks with panic, she tried to roll back, but the springs tightening caused her to cramp and cease as she cried out, “A-Ow! Truck cramp!”

The royal blue and white GP30, at a quick glance, saw nothing wrong with Nellie besides just nerves. She focused deeply and shifted down to her human form.  
Upon nearing her best friend, the brunette could see damage to the SW1001. She saw some light dents on the somber diesel’s coupler. She got concerned and softly demanded, “Nellie, please turn human.”

Nellie refused, uttering as she got upset, “Nuh-uh. I don’t want to.”

Zoey placed her hand over the indentations on the diesel’s coupler and soothed gently, “Nellie… I need you to change to human. I need to see the extent of the damage.”  
She looked up at Nellie’s face and saw the fading scar and exhaled in intense worry. She pleaded, “Nellie…”

The SW1001 caved to her yard manager’s instruction, shifting to her human form, her fox ears pointed downwards in defeat.

The brown eyed girl was horrified as she looked at the bruises upon the ginger’s wrists. Her eyes looked up to the ginger’s greyish-blue eyes that looked away out of embarrassment. She looked at the ginger’s face, examining the bruise on the left side of her forehead and the scratch across her right cheek.  
“Nellie Dawn Joliet… what happened?” the girl with the overbite asked worriedly

Nellie looked away and started tearing up before she ran away sobbing, despite the cramping in her right foot.  
The fox-eared girl made it into the office and collapsed on the couch and silently cried.  
She wished she would’ve died when she consumed the corrosive liquid. She held herself as she wept, all alone in the office for a whole minute until the door opened.

“Nellie…”

“Please, g-go away, Zoey. D-don’t look at me…”

The brunette sat on the arm of the couch, reaching her hand out to her emotionally distraught friend.

Nellie pulled away as she made herself smaller by sitting all scrunched up, tears still falling from her face.

Zoey worriedly asked, “If you don’t tell me what happened, I can’t help you.”

Nellie took a breath, hiccupping and sobbing before she spoke, “I… I am just property. Don’t call me Nellie…” She huffed with defeat, “I… I am just 446… I don’t have a voice. I’m just property.”

The brunette’s expression changed from worried to fearful. She didn’t want Nellie to have to endure such a dangerous doctrine of hate. The brunette’s voice got stern, “Nellie… I don’t want you to believe such horrible things. You’re not property. You do have a voice.”

“It’s disrespectful.” Nellie responded, fidgeting sadly, “I-I shouldn’t even be here… I should be…”

“Nell…”

Nellie stood up and walked away from Zoey, not wanting to listen to the truths because she was so brainwashed with fear.

Zoey stood up and went to follow the completely lost humanoid diesel.

Nellie shook as she stared at a blank wall, trying to come up with some reason why her best friend was wrong for being rational, but she couldn’t come up with a good enough one and sobbed as she collapsed onto the carpeted floor, “I have no valid excuse.”

Zoey sat down beside her emotionally broken-down friend and soothed, “Shhh… They’re not here to tell you you’re invalid. Please tell me why you feel you’re property. I won’t get mad or say something mean.”

“I-I… I was told…” Nellie stammered, streaming tears making her cheeks burn from their salt, “That I’m just property… A-and he’s right… if not for my transforminite,” the ginger looked down at her grey palms with a sigh, “I… I would just be an object.” She shook as she explained, completely incapable of calming down, “I wish I had died… the way they treat me… makes me wish I wasn’t alive.”

Zoey gently placed her hand on Nellie’s back and patted it gently, soothing to the humanoid diesel whose nails sharpened and her ears pointed downwards in misery, “I really wish others wouldn’t break you down so badly. You might be a rental, but it’s not right that you’re being abused so badly.”

Nellie let out a pained yowl as her intense misery deepened thinking about going back to work in the morning.

“I’m calling CN. I’m cancelling their lease on you for tomorrow and the next day.”

The ginger pleaded, still sobbing, her vision obscured by all the tears, “P-p-please d-don’t tell them w-why.”

The blue-clad brunette softly remarked, “I’ll just say you popped a spring and you need a little bit of repairs. Then you can have a few days.”

Nellie didn’t like this at all, since she would be alone in the yard, save for the presence of Patricia, Red and Neil. She retorted though the tears and her emotional hiccupping, “B-but, I-I’ll b-be all a-alone here...”

“I’ll take a day off, and then the next day, once you’re more familiar with it, you can stay at my place,” Zoey suggested confidently, knowing she should probably lock up her swords and knives and medicine before Nellie came over just as a precaution.

Nellie softly nodded, her nails becoming duller as she began to settle down, being hugged by her best friend. Her heart was discouraged and she felt incapable of anything right. She quietly remarked as she looked away from Zoey, “But I’ll just annoy you and then you’ll hate me too. No one likes to be around me.”

This doctrine of self-hate instilled by those around Nellie would be hard to undo, but Zoey was up for the challenge, anything that Nellie could have a will to live, because even if Zoey thwarted Beezelbub, Nellie would still be at risk of dying from misery.

To Be Continued


	49. The Good Zoey and The Good Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey goes looking to find who is radioing harmful things to Nellie and then when she comes back she shows Nellie around her place which is prepared for the SW1001 to feel comfortable.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Beezlebub the evil voice is a representation of a negative personality residing within me.

Zoey had managed to get her friend to calm down enough that the brunette could head out to the store.  
The humanoid GP30 went out the door and went to her VW Van, opening up a duffle bag in the back. The contents of the bag were the girl’s mechsuit.  
Zoey went behind the vehicle, making sure she was out of the line of sight and armoured up, equipt with a railroad radio scanner.  
She softly stated to herself, “Okay, Beez, I’m ready to start tracking you down.”

It was lucky enough that the clouds were dense and low enough for Zoey to fly above without being seen by civilians on the ground.

She focused hard, pushing off from the ground in a large jump, heading up high, before positioning herself so that her jetpack could make her fly forward. She held the scanner as she flew.

The humanoid clad in a mechsuit flew higher into the clouds, not seen anymore and popped up from her gauntlet’s wrist a built-in GPS device.

Looking over the map of Winnipeg, she saw no street names that would be obvious, like 6th Street, or Dante Avenue, or something along those lines, considering Beezel tended to be demonic in nature.

She decided just to fly by all the places with the address of the mark of the beast as she could, just to play it safe, save for over near Polo Park where planes were flying constantly as the Richardson Airport was not too many kilometres away.

All the locations turned up nothing. She flew by the CP yard at Arlington, looking for any diesels that could be catfishing and weren’t actually named Beezel that had that number. Once again, no luck, she just overheard the chatter of diesels going about their late afternoon duties.

Zoey began flying down along the line headed over to the Elmwood area, when she heard something come through on the radio, flying over Euclid Avenue. She paused and listened in.

The voice over the radio snickered and sang, “What a lovely day to bring down another life.”

The brunette dove down below the cloud-line; she was over top of an old dilapidated Vulcan Ironworks factory.

Peeking in through one of the shattered windows of 105 Maple street, the brunette could see someone pacing across the empty floors, dripping blood from an unknown source in an attempts to make a pentagram.

Zoey ducked down as she noticed the figure turning her head towards the windows. The brunette listened in on the radio, to know if the person, or whomever it was would be resuming their strange ritual.

The railway radio conveyed the voice of the seemingly humanoid train, her voice sounding from a different era completely as she sang loudly and happy, “Gloomy is Tuesday! With shadows I spend it all. I will make that weak diesel decide to end it all. Soon there will be candles, and chants that I very well know. Let her friends weep while the right are glad she goes.”

Zoey cringed and wanted to fly in there and kick the ass of this evil Pagan steam being, but upon looking at her GPS screen, she saw the suit’s battery was lowering, since she hadn’t charged it since the night before she sparred with Angie.  
Alas, she would have to return in a few days’ times once the suit was recharged.

The brunette flew off, heading south-eastward back to her place. She knew she didn’t have any groceries with her, but then again, she didn’t have her bankcard anyways.

Once in the gravel parking lot of her home, she took off her mechsuit to expose her street clothes, putting them back into the duffle bag and brought in the bag and as she entered, she slid it behind the sofa for the time being.

Nellie was mindlessly looking at the television, watching some of The Good Place while having a bowl of chocolate frozen yogurt.

“Looks like someone is getting in the spirit of The Good Place.”

The ginger looked back at Zoey, remarking silently, her expression still gloomy, she remarked, “I wish I could go to the good place if I croaked.”

Zoey soothed, “You don’t wanna go to that place though.”

“They have infinite free froyo, Zoe. Infinite Froyo!”, it was clear Nellie forgot that Zoey went to the store, her mind was hyper focused on watching the program

The brunette got a bowl for herself of chocolate frozen yogurt and sat on the loveseat with Nellie, watching the program with her friend.  
“Do you want to see where you’ll be sleeping tonight?”

“I was going to sleep here on the couch.” Nellie stated as she used a piece of paper towel to wipe the bit of froyo on the corner of her mouth.

Zoey took the remote, paused the Netflix program and set down her yogurt. She softly remarked as she stood, “Come with me, Nellie.”

The humanoid SW1001 put aside her frozen dairy dessert and followed her dispatcher into the adjacent room into a small office converted into a guest room. It was adorned with clear plastic vases of varying pink faux flowers.  
She remarked as she sat down on the bed taking out of her pocket her beloved plush rabbit setting the plush upon one of the pillows, “It’s very sweet you decorated your guest room for me with pink flowers.”

“Well, I mean, they’re mostly all from the dollar store, but when you let on you like flowers, I went and got some carnations, cherry blossoms, pink roses, peonies. You know, because you’re such a girly dork.”

Nellie laughed with a smile, “Pfft, me girly?” She laughed for a few seconds before falling silent and remarking in honesty, “Okay, yeah, I kinda am.”  
On the nightstand to the left side of the bed was an ornamental oversized tea-cup, stylized after one from the 1900s, with the pretty floral print and everything. Nellie excitedly asked, “D-did you get that because when I was factory fresh I always wanted to have a tea party?”

Zoey lied through her bucked teeth, since Jackie told all of Nellie’s quirks to Zoey when Nellie became part of BUNX, she answered slyly, trying to sound truthful, “Nah, that’s just to go with your white rabbit.”

Nellie thought and smiled, thinking that was so sweet and thoughtful. She asked the GP30 who now was beside her adjusting the plastic flowers so they would be just right, “Zoe? Do you think the animal you’re becoming is a bunny?” The ginger picked up her favourite doll, looking at its brown bowtie and noting internally how it was the same brown Zoey’s hair was where it wasn’t blue, “I mean… you seem like a rabbit. You’re really nice, sometimes you’re jumpy, and your nose twitches.” Nellie giggled after she said about Zoey’s nose twitching and tried to mimic it, yet her nose couldn’t do what the one of her best friend could.

Zoey smiled and made her nose twitch with a little laugh. She answered, “Maybe I am, maybe that would explain my fruit and vegetable cravings.”

Nellie joked as she held her bunny towards Zoey, “You’d look nice with rabbit ears, even if further corruption isn’t good.”

Zoey accepted the soft plush rabbit. She stroked her thumb of her ungloved hand across the cool grey velvety fur on the inside of the ears. She remarked, “What a sweet little doll,” before she gently sat it in the large tea cup with a smile. She coaxed then to the diesel, “Want to go back and watch some more Good Place? I’m going to order us something for dinner. You deserve some comfort since they tried to brainwash you.”

Nellie nodded and looked to her plush rabbit after Zoey started walking away, imagining to herself what Zoey would look like with rabbit ears, thinking of a photo she once saw of Jackie’s humanoid form before her engine was replaced. The first GMD GP30 had floppy rabbit ears, and she couldn’t wear her human form’s shoes because she had rabbit feet that made it uncomfortable, as well she also had a cotton-tail like most rabbits tended to have.  
Nellie didn’t understand how that un-corrupted Zoey’s sister’s form, but, maybe because it was clean transforminite. She put the thought to the side and headed out back into the sort of living-room like area of the old little warehouse.

To Be Continued


	50. The Night Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie can't sleep and she snoops around and is worried why Zoey has things around for Nellie, concerned that Zoey is crazy about her (Nellie)
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

Zoey had gone to bed and fallen asleep at least an hour ago, yet Nellie laid awake in her room. Her eyes transfixed at the ceiling after another failed attempt at trying to sleep.

The fox eared girl held her beloved rabbit plush, as she softly whispered to herself, "Come on, Nell. Sleep time... It's time to sleep."   
She sighed and set aside her plush admitting, "Oh, what should I do?"

Nellie decided to look around the room she was supposed to sleep in. She sat up right and slid herself over to the left nightstand, pulling the drawer open. There was a box of kleenex, adhesive bandages, alcohol wipes, aloe vera, and a travel sized bottle of Bath and Body Works Velvet Sugar lotion. 

"Sundries, haha, that Zoey thinks of everything," The grey-ish blue eyed girl thought to herself before shutting the drawer. She went to the right side of the bed next, opening that drawer to look inside. This one was more personalized.

Inside the right night table drawer was a small sketchbook, a set of Staedtler pencil crayons, some erasers, a pack of colourful sharpies, some mechanical pencils, and a manual Lisa Frank pencil sharpener. 

Nellie felt a tad off about this, she felt like Zoey had planned for this to be Nellie's room. She stood up to do some more investigating, placing her soft little bunny doll in the teacup while she went to go look more.

She pulled open one of the drawers of a dresser, noticing three duplicates of Nellie's day shirt, all having scoop-style neck-line, and the exact bright white of the BUNX emblazoned on the torso. 

She held one up to take a look, unfolding it to see it had shorter sleeves, which would only come down to a two inches higher than her elbows. Perfect for this summer weather, but it made Nellie uncomfortable.  
"How long ago did she have these made? I never told her my human clothing size." Nellie murmured to herself. 

She didn't want to think about it much longer and decided to quietly head out to where the kitchen was. 

Nellie cautiously opened the door of the room, trying not to make a sound and walked quietly past Zoey's door. Upon reaching the end of the hall, she felt so strange looking at the living area in the dark. 

It was surreal that the television was off, that Zoey wasn't in here doing something, and that the only light came from the moon's light sliding in through the slightly open blinds.

Nellie walked over to where the concrete floor was covered by blue-hued linoleum. She curiously opened the fridge to observe if Zoey purchased anything special for Nellie.

However, what was in the fridge was just the normal stuff Zoey kept; eggs, a four litre of 2% milk, various jams, iced tea, apple juice, kiwi, strawberries, apples, both normal and baby carrots, BC cherries, half a loaf of bread, Becel margarine, some leftover potato wedges from dinner, cherry tomatoes, some bottled water since Zoey didn't trust the tap water that much, peaches, and some nectarines.

Nellie took a bottle of water and a handful of only the firm cherry tomatoes and shut the fridge gently as to try to not make a sound. Heading to the chair in the living area Zoey usually sat in she ate each one of the cherry tomatoes individually, she sat, looking at the window that was letting some light in, thinking about how useless she was and how after her little break that she'd have to go back to everything that made her upset. 

Nellie heard the sound of a door down the hall clicking open, and she went over the side of the chair, leaving her water bottle on the chair's arm as she hid out of sight, worried Zoey would be upset at Nellie being awake.

The brunette, walked from her room, her sleep having been broken by the sound of a 1AM train heading by on the CP line. She gracefully walked into the kitchen area, despite not having her glasses on. 

She opened the fridge and got out a small handful of baby carrots, softly humming softly to herself the No Mercy song.

Nellie unintentionally let out a little happy sound of approval before covering her mouth and starting to tremble. She thought she was going to be in trouble now.

Zoey glanced over to her chair, unable to see much, she asked softly in a tired voice, "Nellie?"

The fox-eared girl peeked up from over the chair at the girl in the action red peppermint stripe pyjamas and answered back worriedly, "I'm... I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

Zoey waved with her empty hand as to signal to her friend that it was okay and to come over.

Nellie approached her friend who was snacking on one of the sweeter tiny carrots. 

The brown eyed girl swallowed and remarked, "Don't worry, you didn't wake me up, Nellie. Even if you did, i wouldn't be mad." She studied the ginger's face quickly before adding, "You look puzzled and worried, what's up?" She then sat on the counter and patted the counter beside her as to encourage Nellie to join her.

Nellie hopped up and started as she looked at Zoey, "How come you have shirts made for me? And why do you have drawing supplies?"

Zoey set down the small carrots beside her and admitted, "Well... you see, the day you had it inside out, I noticed, and a few days before you had to get your fuel-lines pumped, I had them specially made for you." The brunette felt a little bad she didn't tell Nellie but she continued to explain, "The short sleeve one is because summers are too hot for you to wear such long sleeves, even if you do have bruises, don't hide them in shame. Another reason is I know you don't like repaintings because it's sensitive to you, so if you need a replacement, I have some available."

Nellie felt awful for asking such questions, and responded softly, a smile crossing her face as she realized that Zoey crossed her comfort boundaries to make life better, "That's actually really thoughtful."

"The art supplies are so you can have an outlet for your feelings. I know you had to leave BC really quick and that meant you left a lot of your stuff behind. So, now you can draw again."

Nellie was really touched, she softly responded, with doubt in her heart and tears coming on, "But, what if i don't deserve such nice presents?"

Zoey responded with a smile before crunching down on two more baby carrots, "Well too bad, I say you deserve nice things."

Nellie began to feel better just as a yawn escaped from her. 

"Sounds like someone's tired," the brunette teased softly before she finished the last of her small carrots.

"Yeah, I had an awful day... thanks for helping me earlier, and again now."

"Well, I mean, what are friends for, Nell. After all, you need an environment to flourish in. You keep getting put down and beat down figuratively and literally, no wonder you are struggling to want to live."

Nellie gave Zoey a quick side hug and then hopped down off the counter. She remarked softly with a yawn, "Thanks for the unplanned, non-trademarked pep-talk Zoe."

Zoey called out to Nellie who headed back to her room, "Sweet dreams, Nellie."

But the dreams the ginger was about to have, were not going to be as such.

To Be Continued


	51. Nellie, the Abusive Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie's crimes hit her hard in a nightmare where she remembers what lead her to being deported from British Columbia
> 
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart  
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality residing within me of the same name

The early december night was clear, the stars twinkling above, the two switchers in the yard had been working together, the smaller one being overly sweet towards the other, thinking everything was alright up til a few seconds ago after the larger one said that the two needed to talk.

The SW1001's eyes narrowed as she heard the words uttered by the GP30 sitting on the rails ahead of her.

"I'm a failure. I failed to love you properly."

"... This wasn't a test, Nellie."

Nellie felt undeniable sadness, her face burned as tears trickled down her face and onto her catwalk. She stammered, her insides just aching with misery, "T-This hurts you know."

"Yes, but time will heal the..." the GP30 began to say, trying to be soothing, trying to use her voice to bring Nellie down from the extreme lows she had been experiencing lately.

Nellie hissed in response, her pupils contracted to being more like an angered fox's eyes, "You literally just pushed propane tankers into the fire!" Nellie's voice became more growly and angry, "Now I HAVE TO LEAVE AND GO BACK TO WINNIPEG, RIGHT?!"

Jackie had enough, she didn't like how this was going, "I was scared you'd react like this... And I shouldn't have to be afraid of you! No one should be afraid of their girlfriend... but you're so unstable I had no choice!"

Nellie remarked, "But..." she realized then her statement made no sense, she was bad, she couldn't change, that's what she had been told her whole life, that she was bad and never could change. Nellie's compressor kicked on, extremely loud, as the crying SW1001 tried to catch her breath.  
Over the small diesel's radio, Zoey's voice was there, trying to calm Nellie down, telling the switcher if all goes south that Nellie could stay at BUNX.

Nellie shut off her radio, her oil was metaphorically boiling with rage.

"Look, it was so nice at first, you're a sweetheart, I mean it, I swear... But... your instabilities make me tired. You're either crying, numb, or calling me every sugar-coated nickname under the sun! It's not fun anymore, Nellie... I've thought about this for a very long time. I couldn't sleep some nights because I was scared to break up with you but also scared to be with you."

Nellie remarked, her anger growing, her tears still burning her freckled cheeks, "I regret everything we did together!"

"You... you can't mean that..."

Nellie got louder and angrier, "I REGRET HOLDING YOUR HAND AS WE WALKED TO THE STATION!"

Jackie backed up a bit and responded sternly, "I don't know how you feel right now, but it doesn't seem like you're being logical. Just takes some breaths with me, apologize, and we can talk about how to progress in the morning like adults."

This made Nellie extremely angry, she raged, the whites of her eyes becoming black as coal, "You can say that because YOU'RE THE NORMAL ONE CALM ONE! WELL, NO ONE LIKES ME AT HOME, NO ONE MAY AS WELL LIKE ME HERE!"

Nellie threw herself into reverse and aggressively, with a monstrous screech, banged into 5 grain hoppers, the last one toppling over and spilling.

Jackie floored it, notch 8, in reverse, seeking refuge in the Esquimalt shop. She called out, "5000 requesting doors lock."

The large steel doors shut on the shop, in an attempts to keep the terrifying ginger monster on the outside.

Nellie transformed into her fox form. Her sharp claws gleamed in the moonlight as she barrelled towards the shop doors which were now shut, she slashed her claws across the door, but to no avail, leaving only 2 cm deep scratches on them. 

The fox prowled about, looking for another entry until she realized that the walls between each door were made of a less dense steel. She slashed her claws across it and snarled as she peeked in, "YOU'RE A COLD QUEEN!"

Jackie had no choice, she had to radio to the other diesels for help and to RTC.

Nellie, as she heard the message being radioed out, she bolted away, into the woods mere blocks from the rail yard, terrified of being caught and what it would mean.

The fox monster, after a few yards into the tree line, slumped down against a towering pine tree and howled out in agony and pain. Taking out of her back pocket her rabbit plush and clutching it against her chest. Her heart shattered, and her mind riddled with fear over what the next chapter of her life would hold. 

Suddenly, the humanoid SW1001 awoke in a cold sweat. Her heart pounding in fear.

Her grey-ish blue eyes darted around the darkened room, looking at the vases of flowers, and her stuffed rabbit still in the tea cup. Nellie held the soft doll and wept silently, remorseful for her past sins. 

She softly asked to the doll she held, looking for an answer, "Am... Am I the same monster as before? Am I still that awful?"

Of course, the doll didn't answer, Nellie was tired, scared, and upset and her sense of rationality was out the window due to those factors. 

After finding no answer from staring at her small white rabbit, she laid down, holding the doll until she fell asleep again, this time, however, she thankfully had no dreams at all.

To Be Continued.


	52. Feeling Awful? Have a Waffle.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is feeling guilty because of her nightmares and that Zoey is taking the day off with her to help Nellie, but Zoey wants to help Nellie see that she (N) deserves good things too
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Lazuli is my OC

Zoey was up bright and early as usual, however this morning, she was preparing a nice surprise for Nellie, her crush whom was also her best friend.  
The brunette softly hummed the tune of 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' as she retrieved from the cupboard a can of non-stick baking spray. She wasted no time spraying both sides of the waffle iron on the counter before she plugged it in.  
The cheery sun's light poured in through the partially open blinds of the kitchen window and shone upon the bowl of waffle batter that had at least half a bag of semi-sweetened chocolate chips through out it's composition.   
Zoey's brown eyes looked upon the microwave's clock, noticing that it was 7:30 am, she waited a bit until the waffle iron beeped indicating it was ready to be put to use.  
Joyfully, the humanoid GP30 remarked to herself, "Wonderful, Nellie should be waking up soon." She then retrieved from her cutlery drawer a ladle and scooped out some batter to put into the waffle iron that was now preheated. She then, after closing the top of the maker, headed over to the fridge, retrieving a bowl of strawberries that was in there. She took them over to the sink, rinsed the berries off, and then sat on a chair she placed by the counter as she cut off the leafy tops of the juicy red berries in preparation for breakfast.

A short whiles later, down the hallway, Nellie was starting to stir awake from the smell of the chocolate chip waffles being cooked.   
The fox-eared girl, still riddled with guilt from her nightmares of the past, pulled out of the pocket of her denim pants her cellphone.  
"No messages, no calls. Thank goodness," the humanoid SW1001 thought to herself before she got out of bed to start getting herself ready for the day before she could go out and join Zoey in the kitchen.  
After a change of shirts, a quick rebraiding, and a little bit of pale grey concealer on her nose and under her eyes, Nellie ventured out from the room she slept in and walked down the hall to join her brunette friend.

Zoey greeted her ginger friend by greeting joyfuly as she popped the 4th waffle out of the iron and onto a plate on the counter with the others, "Morning, Nellie. So how'd ya sleep?"

Nellie answered with a slight laugh, "With my eyes closed of course." The humanoid switcher walked over to the fridge, her ears folded downwards as she thought again about last night's dream and about all the bad things she had done since then.   
Nellie got out of the fridge the 4 litre jug of milk and looked over to Zoey who was busy making the 5th waffle. The grey-ish blue eyed girl reached up to the cupboard above that was already open and retrieve a pink glass for her milk to go into.

Zoey, still not paying attention to Nellie, asked, "But in all seriousness, how was your sleep?"

The ginger went silent as she poured her glass 3/4ths full of milk and put back the jug into the fridge.

The brown eyed woman in the orangey-red stripey pajamas glanced over at her friend and took note of the ginger's downwards ears. She asked worriedly, "Oh, Nellie. Did Tracy text you and get mad?"

Nellie shook her head and responded, her heart filled with misery, "No... I... I've been thinking." Nellie shuffled a bit anxiously as she continued, "About my past sins, about what I did that night... about just... everything... I can't live with myself knowing all the vile things I've done... I'm... I'm a monster." the ginger avoided looking at Zoey in the eyes, she was ashamed and didn't want Zoey to look at her.

The brunette soothed, her heart full of worry for her best friend, "Nell... The fact you feel guilt is proof of what I tell you. You're learning and growing every day. You're changing and becoming a better person." She placed a hand gently on the chubby girl's right shoulder and added, "You're not the same diesel who did all the bad things."

Nellie didn't answer

"A lot of your sins came from the fact that your bad situations in life warped your brain. While it doesn't excuse it, you still went through a lot of bad things and you didn't mean to be awful."

Nellie softly responded, ears still down, "You're not really helping..." she didn't like when it felt like she was being told that her mental illness made her bad.

The brunette summarized gently, hoping Nellie would stop being so glum, "Good diesels can do bad things sometimes. Bad diesels do horrible things, yet they get away with it. I hope some day you'll be more recognized for all the good things you can do."

The conversation was broken by the sound of the waffle iron beeping, to indicate the 5th waffle was ready to be taken out.

"Just one more waffle, and we will be ready!" Zoey stated happily before popping it out and replacing it with the last little bit of batter from the bowl before closing up the waffle iron. She then answered, "I'm off of rail duty today, so we get to spend time around here instead. I just have a little office work to do, that's all."

Nellie made her way to the table with her glass of milk and snagged a strawberry from the bowl. She asked curiously before she ate the berry, "So who's doing dispatch then?" She was worried the others would be waiting for Zoey.

"Oh, well, I just asked Laz to take over for today. Just so I can stay here with you to help you feel a bit better. After all, it's not right what happened yesterday."

Nellie nodded silently before remarking with worry, "You don'[t have to do this, Zoe... I'd be okay alone if you wanted to go to work."

The waffle iron beeped and Zoey popped out the last waffle and brought the plate over, a kind and happy smile on her face.

However, Nellie felt undeserving of the waffles, let alone any kindness. She felt off that she had the day off, on a week day, that Zoey was making choco-waffles for her, and that Zoey would be with her the whole day.

The brunette responded as she gave Nellie two waffles and took two for herself before sitting down at the table, "Nellie..." her brown eyes looked upon her friend with compassion as she stated firmly yet caringly, "You need more good things. You keep having bad days over and over and we don't want it to take more of a toll on you."

Nellie didn't answer, her ears stood up now though at the thought that she deserved to have good things.

The brunette was happy to see her best friend was coming around. She held up her glass of apple juice and happily said, "To healing and help."

Nellie held up her glass to that.

Both girls took a sip of their beverages before digging into their waffles.

To Be Continued


	53. Office Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey is having trouble with work and Nellie helps her out
> 
> I don't own Keith Creel, sorry for portraying him for the sake of comedy  
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me

Zoey went to the area in the back work bench area and started up her work laptop.

Nellie sat at a different area where Lazuli had her drafting boards, comfortable and content as she was colouring in a drawing she made of Zoey’s true GP30 form with the pencil crayons she during the night.

The brunette, once her computer was all booted up, and her programs and e-mails were open, she began making up an invoice to CN for leasing out Nellie for the prior week. Her fingers clicking the keys, she had noted down the standard rate she charged, but she noted in the description that Nellie’s rental rate was going up $5 an hour due to maintenance costs… which in actuality was so Zoey could use the extra money to help Nellie want to live.  
Her brown eyes glanced over at the, for once, cheery SW1001, wishing she didn’t have to lease Nellie out at all to CN. She asked to her ginger-haired friend, “Hey, Nell… do you think I’m charging CN enough for leasing you every business day?”

Nellie put down her royal blue pencil crayon and made her way over to where her best friend was sitting. She looked at the invoice on the screen and thought a bit, her self-esteem going down upon seeing how much Zoey was charging them.  
“$755? Isn’t that a bit much to ask, Zoe? I mean…”

Zoey interrupted the switcher’s words gently, “Nellie, I have to be able to charge this so then I can turn a profit and help you. I know you see yourself as not being worth what I’m charging, but I’m not charging CN less when they treat you so badly.”  
Zoey clicked print on the application on her computer, and out of the computer came one copy of the invoice. She then clicked to save as PDF and opened up her e-mails to send a copy over to CN.

Nellie felt like she wasn’t being useful and to leave, but stopped when she heard Zoey say something as she checked an e-mail.

“DAMN IT! My e-mail last night to Shell didn’t go through, now the diesel rations for the week aren’t going to show up.” Zoey annoyedly growled as she looked at the screen. She face-palmed and into her gloves exhaled the F-word.

The ginger asked worriedly, “I… is there anything I could do, Zoey? You know, to make it better?”

Zoey lowered her gloved hands and turned around in her office chair to look at her friend. She asked, “I don’t really know. Maybe you could check my message book for the e-mail address so I can see if I wrote it down wrong.”

Nellie walked over to near the landline phone and picked up the coil-bound book beside it and started flipping through pages. Within a minute and a half, she came across the message and walked over to Zoey and showed the brunette it.

Zoey looked at the message and saw that she had put .com instead of .ca and sighed, “No wonder it bounced back.” She silently typed in the correct e-mail address for the supplier and marked the e-mail as urgent. She sighed as she slumped down in the chair once it was sent.  
“Okay, so now to call CP… not that they’ll want to pay us, even if it’s after their terms of 15 days.”

Nellie watched as Zoey picked up the phone and dialed out to CP’s head office, waiting all of 3 minutes just to have her call picked up, being placed on hold again while being transferred to accounts payable, where there was no answer and worse yet, the mailbox was full.

The brunette stood up silently, walked to the other room, an unsettling smile on her face. Once she crossed the threshold into the living area/kitchen. She yelled out in anger, “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! WHY THE FUCK DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!!?!?”

Nellie, having remembered the number to dial, tried again with her cellphone, channeling some of her fox rage, she waited her eyes now black as coal, with piercing blue pupils.

The secretary of CP answered, “Hello, Bonjour, you have reached Canadian Pacific. How may I direct your call?”

Nellie responded in a voice that a very neurotypical anti-vaxxing soccer mom named Karen would have, which is condescending and not like Nellie’s normal voice that made her sound like she was 13, “Hiiii, so I’m looking to speak with a maaaanaaaager.. Would that be possible?”

The secretary remarked, eager to please, “Right away, miss!”

Nellie was on hold for all of about 30 seconds when someone answered.

“Hello, you’re speaking with Keith, what seems to be the problem, miss?” the man answered politely.

Nellie, oblivious she was speaking with the CEO of CP let loose with her ‘grown-up’ voice, “Well, then, Keith, whenever I seem to call your Accounts Payable Department, I am unable to get through to a person let alone leave a message.” She paced a bit as she talked, Zoey returning into the room, shocked to see what Nellie was doing

The man over the phone responded back, “As you know, CP is a very busy company and perhaps you could try again later.”

Nellie tried again, this time more stern, her eyes growing darker still, “Perhaps, but it would be great if you could get the AP to call us back. You see, we need to square up on an invoice that is past due of the terms.”

The CEO, not wanting to deal with whom he thought of as a nutjob, transferred her over to accounts payable.

Accounts Payable picked up within a minute.

“Allo, you ‘ave reached accounts pay’able. How may I help you?” the French accented woman answered.

Nellie continued in her ‘big-girl’ voice, “I’m calling from BUNX, you see, and we have been trying for the past several days to inquire about the e-transfer you guys haven’t sent us yet that is past the terms.”

The woman replied, “Madam, I am certain you know CP is a large and busy company that…”

Nellie interrupted while still sounding condescending but polite, “Yes, however, you guys signed a contract with us. A contract is a contract. Maybe if Arlington didn’t need us, then maybe there wouldn’t be a contract.”

The woman, sounding defeated remarked, “I’ll see to it that payment is transferred tonight.”

The ginger noted it down proudly, her eye-whites changing back to being, well, white. She responded in a voice more normal for her, “Bless your heart miss. Have a splendid day.” She hung up and smiled proudly.

Zoey was shocked and stammered, “How the shit did you do that, Nellie?”

Nellie shrugged and responded, “I just wanted to try that.”

“Hey… you said you were speaking with a Keith right?” the brunette inquired, “… do you think it was Keith Creel?”

Nellie laughed and replied, “Pfft, nah, it’s a common name. Plus if he was the CEO, I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten my way.”

Zoey laughed a bit and sat back down at her office chair, happy to know that if she really needed some fire power, then to ask Nellie for a little extra help with calling for getting money in.  
The brunette asked curiously as she looked up to Nellie and asked, “Want me to teach you how to do invoices?”

Nellie’s mind was thrown into panic.  
“A new task I know nothing about? Oh god… I’m going to fail. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!” Nellie silently panicked in her brain

To Be Continued


	54. Distorted Diesels Ch42: Office Shenanigans pt2- Electric Boogaloo aka Nellie Panics Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie has a panic attack because she's not confident because of a bad memory.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Tracy the GP38 is an OC

Nellie now found herself in front of the computer screen, had she been a diesel right now, she would be clattering with anxiety.

She began breathing heavily.

Zoey, at first oblivious explained, “Okay, first you click on create invoice and then…”

The fox eared girl bolted out of the room, hyperventilating.

The brunette looked in shock at the fact Nellie just bolted off like that.

She walked into the living area and asked worriedly, “Nellie? Hey Nell... Are you still here?”

Zoey’s brown eyes looked around the living area slowly before she decided to check behind the chair Nellie hid behind the night prior.

No Nellie there.

Her nose twitched with worry, Nellie was missing because she didn’t think of Nellie’s feelings.

A soft weeping and sniffling sound came from down the hall.

Zoey traversed carefully down to where Nellie had slept and found the fox-eared girl sitting behind the bed crying in complete panic.

She soothed, “Nellie… I… I didn’t know that I was upsetting you… I’m really sorry.”

Nellie breathed heavily as she stated barely coherently because her of her crying, “I once had to help Tracy with billing for CN during when some office workers were on strike and everything I did was wrong and everyone yelled at me…”

The brunette sat on the floor beside her best friend and soothed, “That’s awful… I’m sorry that happened, Nellie, but…”

Nellie was irrational like the night before, she trembled as she resumed her panicked rambling, “I don’t want you to scream and me and say that I would be worth more as scrap steel. O-or tell me that I can’t do anything right.”

“I promise I’m not going to say anything like that to you, Nellie,” Zoey quelled gently as she put her right hand on Nellie’s left knee.

Nellie sniffled and sobbed more, her emotions overrode her ability to respond properly.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t notice you were uncomfortable, but… please next time you feel panic setting in, please tell me. I don’t want you running off again and scaring me like that.”

“A-a-are you mad at me?”

The brunette smiled kindly at Nellie and hugged her from the side and answered, “Oh, Nellie.”

However, inside, Zoey’s heart was breaking to see her friend just so broken down. She needed to do something.

After a few minutes of Nellie calming down, she admitted angrily, “I’m ridiculous for crying. Crying does nothing. I should be at work today.”

“Crying is a healthy release for negativi…”

Nellie interrupted while pulling away from Zoey’s hug, “No… It has no purpose. Every time I cry about something things only get worse.” She fidgeted with the laces of her steel toed shoes as she continued, “If I’m not going to pick myself back up and soldier on, then you’re sister’s right… I’m a lost cause.”

“But you could burn yourself out worse if you just keep punishing and pushing yourself too hard, Nellie,” Zoey reasoned, hoping the humanoid SW1001 would listen

The ginger responded, trying to meet middle ground because she was too exhausted to argue with Zoey, “Alright, when I need a break, I’ll take one, but that can’t be every time I’m inconvenienced, abused, or frightened.”

The brunette felt concerned Nellie was thinking this aggressively, concerned it would result in the poor diesel running herself into the ground.

The two sat in silence beside each other for a bit, Nellie stood up and softly asked, “Can you please teach me now how to do invoices?”

Zoey nodded and the two headed back to try again, but at less of a fast pace.

It was a long morning, Nellie had trouble learning, and despite her anger with herself, she still worried about reprimand from Zoey.

Zoey however, showed no malice and just gently encouraged Nellie and helped Nellie.

At noon, the two decided that was enough, and headed to the living area of Zoey’s home space for a break.

“Hey, Zoey? What happens if I don’t retain everything you taught me today?” Nellie asked, concernedly as she sat down on the loveseat in the living space.

Zoey, who was over by the fridge now, responded as she looked in for the potato wedges from last night, “Nothing really, we will just review it again.”

The fox-eared girl was slightly surprised to hear such. While it was Zoey she was talking to, Nellie in the past had been trained to quake at the thought of being reprimanded for forgetting and making a mistake.

She responded thankfully, “Thanks for being patient with me, Zoe. I’ll try harder to be better so you don’t have to try really hard to put up with my failings.”

“I appreciate that,” the brunette responded kindly as she got out a baking sheet and placed the leftovers on them and set the toaster oven, “Now then, how about we take a break and refuel?”

Nellie smiled and with a laugh replied, “That sounds like a nice idea.”

To Be Continued


	55. Lazuli and Annanova

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> A quick glance at some interaction between a GP20-ECO and her driver "mom"
> 
> Lazuli and Annanova are my OCs

After Annanova helped her with switching the cars for the VIA train, Lazuli and her driver made their way back along the line towards St. Boniface.  
The GP20-ECO absent mindedly looked at the Goldeyes field, her eyes looked upon the players and upon using the blinking activation, her augmented computing display came up. She could see all the player stats for the opposing team and the Goldeyes, which caused Lazuli to laugh a bit.

Anna happily yet curiously asked, “What’s so funny, Laz?”

“Just that I pretty much have a feeling which team is going to win, our home team.” The diesel proclaimed cheerily.

The two crossed the rail bridge that spanned the river. When the two were looking down at the murky brown river, there were people were riding on the riverboats or using their own boats to enjoy the late summer afternoon upon the Red River.

Lazuli glanced northward after a few seconds to the old Alexander Docks, smiling at the sight of all the nice old buildings as well as the quaint little mutli-coloured building that was fairly new there. Her computerized view over her sight enabled her to see that it was a hotel called the Mere, seeing the ratings for it were fairly high, she thought back to her time she had a big sleepover with other humanoid diesels at a hotel and she wanted to do that again.  
She asked to her driver, “Annanova? If I earn enough to pay you back, can we stay at that place that’s northward of this bridge some time? It looks really cool!”

The young woman glanced from the cab over at the building and thought a bit before she remarked, “The Mere? You know that’s not one of the best areas to be in, especial for someone young.”

As they reached the other side and were now in the old French area of the city, the green eyed diesel kept pleading, “Pleeeeeaaaaaase? I mean I’m not a little kid anymore. Please, please, please?”

The blonde woman in her early 30s laughed and replied, “I’ll think about it.”

The little red diesel chalked it up as a victory, knowing that when her engineer said this that meant Lazuli would get her way.

Annanova, silently, made a note to herself to check the availability for the weekend so she could take Lazuli to the Mere Hotel down by the old dock.

To Be Continued


	56. A Nosy Fox and an Edited Photo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is nosy about Zoey's lavatory and sees that Zoey lives comfortably, and then notices a really strange edited photo on the wall that confuses her
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Jackie the GP30 is the trainsona of Esquimaltnanaimo on DeviantArt

As afternoon turned to evening, Nellie went to look in Zoey’s lavatory out of curiosity.  
Much to the surprise of the SW1001, it was far more luxurious than she imagined. There was a nice shower stall that had no-slip tiles, a cabinet with all showering needs, and a royal blue opaque sliding plexi-glass door. A large bath tub that could easily fit 3 people, a toilet behind the bath’s backsplash as a privacy measure in-case someone accidentally barged in, a large vanity with lots of electrical plugs, a nice deep sink with a waterfall tap, and of course, the old style top-loading washing machine, and a front loading dryer. The floors were a nice pale blue gritty linoleum to prevent slipping, and while the walls were a bare white, on each wall there was a nice railway photo hung.

Nellie recognized all of the diesels in each photo. 3 of which were Zoey in her different paint schemes. The north wall had a photo of her as she was now, BUNX Blue. Upon the South wall by the bath tub, was a photo of her in her maroon and grey days. On the west wall, hanging up adjacent to the shower by a few metres, was one that made Nellie’s heart skip a beat in awe, action red Zoey with a beautiful multimark on the back of her side and white stripes across the front of her cab. The photo however, on the east wall close to the door, she was perplexed by. It was clearly an altered photo, as Zoey, Jackie and Nellie had never been in the same place at the same time, but it was really endearing to the SW1001.

The photo had the three looking towards the viewer, an action red Jackie on the left side of the SW1001, Nellie in the middle, Zoey on the right, and all 3 were in Arlington Yard.

Nellie looked to the edge of the photo and spotted written in silver sharpie near the bottom of the Arlington Bridge, ‘GMD’s Pride and their Favourite SW1001’. Nellie burst into laughter, there was no way that was true. She felt Jackie probably only tolerated her just because Nellie had tried to end her life.

Zoey entered, she had her gloves off exposing sort of a gradient going from her wrists to her arm, one from white to a brighter white. When she saw Nellie, she threw her gloves back on and asked, “Oh, that photo?”  
Nellie looked to Zoey and then back again at the photo and snickered, “Why do you have this?”

“Well, I had this made up about maybe a year ago.” The humanoid GP30 answered honestly, “While it might not be as true now, I just really like it. It’s like a happy what if. If CP never got rid of her, likely CP would’ve still sold me, I would have come back and made BUNX, and we’d all be friends and help out at CP.”

Nellie smiled and replied softly, “While that would be nice, wouldn’t two 30s be too many?”

“Nah, we’d find a way to share ya.” Zoey joked and patted Nellie on the back before she was serious, “Anyways, can I have my turn in here? I’ll be out in 20 and then we can discuss what we’re gonna do for dinner.”

Nellie nodded and left swiftly, uncomfortable at the thought of expelling exhaust like how a human does.

Once the humanoid SW1001 with the fox ears had exited, Zoey locked the door and found her body trimmer and started remove her soft and downy white fur from her arms.

To Be Continued


	57. A Treat for Rainy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Skip the Dishes brings a corrupted diesel a feast of his favourite
> 
> Rainy the SD40-2 is a representation of a personality residing within me, however that one isn't KFC obsessed, this scene is merely a glance at how the diesel one is doing.   
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me.

Rainy was sitting alone in the lonely shop at CN, when there was a knock at the human door. The diesel with the scales on his face called out, “It’s unlocked you can come in.”

In popped a 20-something with a Skip-the-Dishes bag. He asked in a slight Russian accent, “Are you Rainy Oleander Locke-Wood?”

The SD40-2 glanced down with his orange eyes upon the human and inquired, “Who wants to know?”

The man answered, “If you’re not him, then I’ll take chicken elsewhere.”

“Whoa, whoa, back that metaphorical train up!” Rainy stated as he turned into his crocodile-like form, his wares just plain black with no markings or numbers or colours, “You said chicken right?”

The man was perplexed by what he just witnessed, but not all that frightened. He responded, “Yes. Now are you him?”

He answered as he held out his scaly hands, “Yes, now please can I have my chicken.”

The fellow took out of the large thermal bag, a 30 piece bucket of the Colonel’s ‘finest’ chicken, a large order of some of the soggiest fries, and a 2 litre bottle of Orange Crush. He was regretting slightly that he took on the job with the highest prepaid tip.

Rainy thanked the man with an awkward hug before placing the food on the bench.

As the human left, and closed the door, he could hear the sound of the crocodilian like creature scarfing down the deep-fried bird like as if he hadn’t seen food in days.

Tonight, Rainy would feast, all thanks to Zoey sending him what she promised, a bucket of KFC.

To Be Continued


	58. Nyan Geep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli has a fit of raw rage against a straight boomer and she has to come clean to Zoey about what happens
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Lazuli, Star, Neil and Rocky Toad are my OCs

Nellie had decided to go to bed early, leaving her friend all alone in the former industrial building.

Zoey stood at the counter, cutting up some carrots finely so she could salt them and place them in the oven to make chips from the root vegetable.  
The brunette snuck the end pieces of the carrots, delightfully enjoying their sweeter taste than the rest.

Suddenly, a knock at the door distracted the humanoid GP30, who then set down her kitchen knife.  
She walked over to the door and peered through the peephole.

Outside the door was Lazuli and Star.

The brunette opened the door and invited in the two young ones. Star happily wheeled in her humanoid GP20-ECO girlfriend… who now had something slightly different about her.

Zoey remarked in shock as she looked upon her young sister, “Lazuli!”

The ginger in the wheelchair in embarrassment raised her hands up to cover her kitten like ears that protruded from her head. The ears had the same striking ginger that the green-eyed girl had.

Star defended sternly, “Zoey, don’t condemn your sister before you know the circumstances!” She parked the wheelchair of her girlfriend and gently coaxed Lazuli’s hands down.

Zoey raised an eyebrow, waiting to hear an explanation.

“Well…” Lazuli began in her raspy yet adorable voice, “You see, sis…”

Earlier that afternoon, when Star arrived back at the yard where Lazuli already was, sitting near the little pond in the yard’s corner playing with her pet toad.

The blue AC44 rolled into the yard, her e-bell ringing happily as she saw the girl in the wheelchair. She focused deeply and exhaled gently, becoming her human form. The dark haired girl ran over to her girlfriend, her sparkling eyes full of merriment and joy.

“Hey Stardust, how was CP today?” Lazuli greeted as she let her pet go back to his little pond.

The girl in the bright blue matching work boots and sundress hugged Lazuli tightly and lifted the ginger up while giggling excitedly.

Lazuli joined in the laughter too as she was held by her slightly shorter girlfriend who was much stronger.

Neil opened his eyes as he was napping in the corner of the yard. He expressed his disgust through a glare so icy it could turn lava into the very iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

The green eyes of the humanoid GP20-ECO met the eyes of the RS13 as she was set down back into her wheelchair. She resumed focusing on her girlfriend.

Star giggled and responded, “It was great! I got to do some switching from Arlington up to North Transcona and while the crew wasn’t sure how an AC44 could switch in the first place, I surprised them with all I could do, and also hauling a frick-ton of cars was super mega fun when I get to honk at the crossing and ring my bell, a few nice humans waved at me!”

The icy glare still caught Lazuli’s eyes.

Neil sneered disrupting the happy moment of the young lesbians, “You two are sinners, I am disgusted by your vile and immoral impure display, you both will burn in Engine Hell!”

Star stopped hugging her girlfriend and called out in an upset tone to the old MLW, “You don’t have to be so rude, Neil. What about love thy neighbour?”

“You two are practically shoving your tongues down each other’s throats in front of me, sinners,” the old diesel barked, he wasn’t going to be reasonable.

Lazuli wheeled along the concrete to the old diesel, she had enough now. The humanoid GP20-ECO took a deep breath and began with her angered rant.  
“You keep telling us the same garbage EVERYDAY! I’m sick of it! You don’t get it! YOU ARE BEING USED AS PARTS FOR A REASON, NEIL!”  
She glared back at the diesel, her green eyes with a fire of deep hatred and anger, she wasn’t playing nice anymore, “Additionally… You have NO SAY in how Star and I conduct our relationship. IT’S 20-FUCKING-19! IT’S NOT 1950! Hell, in 1950 there WERE LESBIANS! SO DON’T SAY IT’S UNNATURAL OR IMMORAL! Also HOW ARE WE BEING INDECENT?! STAR AND I ARE ONLY HUGGING AND KISSING AND HOLDING HANDS!”

Star tried to interrupt Lazuli, noticing something beginning to protrude from Lazuli’s head, “Um, Laz?”

Lazuli was too lost in her rage, yelling more aggressively, “I’ve seen straight folks getting handsy with each other in public and it’s uncomfortable for me. NOT BECAUSE I’M GAY, BUT BECAUSE I’M A BLOODY CHILD! I DON’T WANT TO WATCH THAT BECAUSE IT DISGUSTS ME!”

The blue eyed girl tried to get the attention of her girlfriend again, to no avail.

The kitten ears really took form now, pointing upwards as Lazuli glared without blinking, her pupils dilated in anger as she finished to rage, “Now, if you’ll just excuse us, Star and I are legally allowed to be a couple because THIS IS CANADA!”  
The ginger focused her attention to her girlfriend and asked in a gentle and kinder voice, “What’s wrong, Stardust? Want to go away from this jerk?”

Star didn’t know how to explain it and silently wheeled Lazuli over to the station, picked up the wheelchair and carried it with Lazuli in it onto the platform, and then brought the wheelchair bound girl into it.  
Once inside, Star noticed a decorative mirror and placed her girlfriend facing it.

Lazuli looked at her reflection confused, not noticing much different, save for what she thought were sections of hair out of place. As she focused more and saw them move, she let out a gasp of fear. She stammered as she reached her hands up and felt the ears, “Stardust? So, um... d-do…I have c-cat ears..”

The humanoid AC44 nodded.

Lazuli started to hyperventilate a bit and remarked in fear, “Ohhhh fuck… I’m going to be in so much shit!”

Lazuli finished explaining, “I tried to do yoga, I tried drinking tea… I couldn’t become calm enough that the ears would go away…”

Zoey hugged her sister gently and remarked, “I’m sorry I didn’t know the circumstance… And, no… it might never go away… but I am glad you opened up to me and that you put Neil in his place.”

Nellie was leaning, right ears against the door, shocked Lazuli was corrupted.

Lazuli felt her kitty ears and scratched behind them lightly with a laugh, “I mean, at least they’re cute I guess?”

Star nodded and remarked, “They look very nice, even if it means you’re a little distorted.”

Zoey softly added, sternly yet kindly, “It’s not good you’re corrupted, Laz. I’ll see if we can have Neil moved elsewhere so he won’t bother you two anymore.”

To Be Continued


	59. The Late Night Photo Album

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie can't sleep and looks at photo albums.  
> See drawings of hippie Jackie and Zoey here
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Jackie the GP30 is the trainsona of Esquimaltnanaimo on DeviantArt

Nellie, once again curious, ventured into the living room due to the fact she couldn’t sleep after she awoke at the midnight hour.  
The night was cloudy, so there was no moonlight coming in from the slightly open horizontal blinds. She turned on a lamp near Zoey’s chair and spotted a large album.  
As sure as you can imagine, Nellie flipped the cover open to look upon the old photos.

The first photo was two GP30s at London, Ontario. The greyscale photo showed the two bespectacled diesels respectively numbered 8200 +8201 smiling brightly and happily with their adorable overbites, the one numbered 8201 with sharper looking canines than the other one.

Nellie flipped the page with excitement to see more of the photos of Jackie and Zoey in their younger days. She flipped pages until she saw something familiar, the large bridge that spanned Arlington Yard.

In that photo the two diesels sat on the tracks below the bridge proudly smiling, being purely adorkable.  
She flipped more pages not paying too much attention to the black and white ones. The photos she saw next were, however, her favourites.

There in a photo from about 1974, there was both Jackie and Zoey in their human forms. Their outfits very Bohemian in style, their poofy ringlets gorgeously draped over their shoulders, and both girls wearing those round frame hippie glasses.  
Nellie giggled and softly said, “Oh my goodness! They were ever-so adorable as hippies!” She placed her hand over the photo lightly, remembering the times that either diesel, while human, hugged her and then Nellie would’ve laughed because their poofy hair tickled her nose.  
She stopped the thought and remembered that was one of the things Jackie didn’t like. She didn’t like that Nellie seemed hyper focused and sometimes even would put down her own ginger hair to say that formerly action red GP30 was far more beautiful. Nellie however was hesitant to call Zoey beautiful for fear she’d fall for Zoey too.

A gentle voice remarked in the dark, “Are you looking at my old photo album?”

Nellie looked up from the book and was about to set it down and apologize to the brunette with tired brown eyes.  
Zoey gently quelled, “No, no. It’s okay. Let me come over and tell you about them.” she put on her glasses, then came and sat beside Nellie. The humanoid GP30 wasn’t angry or upset, she wanted to join in.

“I… was just marveling at this old photo of you.” The ginger stated, lifting her hand away from the photograph of the two humanoid GP30s

“That’s back from my maroon and grey days. I miss those days sometimes. I was gorgeous back then,” the woman in the action red sleepwear remarked as she looked at the photograph. The fair skinned woman flipped the page and looked upon another photo of the two girls and another standing in front of Zoey’s VW Bus

“Hey. That’s the BUNX Bus.” Nellie eagerly answered as her eyes looked upon it.

“Yep. Way back when, my sister, myself, and one of CP’s MLWs saved up a bunch of money and we bought a hippie van and drove around in it during our off-time.” Zoey reminisced aloud, a nostalgic smile finding its way onto her face. She continued, “it was a grand time. Until CP got uncool and chopped the poor girl’s hood and stripped us of our maroon. It was many, many, many moons before I turned human again.”  
Without realizing, Zoey’s left hand traversed up to her ponytail and gently pulled it over her shoulder.

Nellie asked, her curiosity leading her to know, “When they repainted you… were they not careful?”

Zoey nodded and admitted softly, “I’d rather not talk much about it… I don’t like talking about my chapters of life that I didn’t exactly look like myself.”

While Nellie had some comprehension of the feeling, she couldn’t fully relate since Nellie was assigned female at build. She placed her hand gently on Zoey’s back and softly admitted, a little worried it may come across wrong, “Well, no matter how you, look, Zoe… I think you’re really truly gorgeous. Your beauty shines from both inside and out.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was you hitting on me,” Zoey joked a bit before being honest, “That’s really sweet of you, Nellie. I agree about you being the same.”

The humanoid SW1001 bit her tongue as she fought back saying that she thought Zoey was far prettier.

The two flipped through more pages and Zoey told a few stories to Nellie about some photos in the album.

Zoey asked with a smile as she popped the reclining part of her chair, “So, hey, wanna sleep out here with me like a slumber party?”

Nellie nodded and excitedly ran to her room to grab some pillows, two blankets, and her beloved plush rabbit.

The two humanoid diesels camped out in the living room together, falling asleep comfortably with each other as company.

To Be Continued


	60. A Really Good Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Star hears great news regarding Macswell, Angie, and other diesels who were retired in Weston Shops
> 
> Star, Macswell, Lazuli, and Angie are all my OCs

Morning arrived in Arlington Yard, Star was arriving for a day of helping the retired and semi-retired diesels be switched about the Weston Shops yard.  
The AC44, who believed herself to the largest and last General Purpose Unit to ever be built, roared slowly up to Angie who seemed rather excited about something.

“Good morning, Angie!” the large diesel trilled happily

“Hello there Star, I have wonderful news,” the action red SD40-2 greeted cheerfully

Star thought a bit about what it could be and asked, “Did you get a second date with Sapphirra?”

“Yes, but that’s only half of it.” The GMD diesel replied, her engine skipping a beat with excitement.

Star asked, “Oh! You found a new outfit for your human form!”

“No,” Angie replied before she exclaimed, “I get to be a full time switcher again! CP is reinstating us SD40s!”

Star squealed with delight as her e-bell rang.

Another SD unit called out, “Chill out, Ange. It’s not gonna be til later this year. Even then, you won’t be the holiday train.”

“Oh, goyim please.” Angie responded back with a laugh, “I know that’s a better job for you, Noelle.”

Star laughed and asked naively, “What’s a goyim?”

“Oh, it’s Yiddish for gentile.” The bespectacled diesel proudly responded

Star stared at the SD40-2 confusedly

Angie remarked in a friendly tone, “It just means someone who isn’t of the Jewish faith.”

“I’m agnostic!” Star giggled.

Macswell rolled up to the two whom were talking and cheerfully remarked, “I as well have good news, the Macs are coming back!” He continued, “We’re going to get some small fixes and then we’ll be up and running again on the mainline.”

Star was euphoric as today she was helping diesels that would resume their running out in the yard and on the mainline by year’s end, and she was excited to tell Laz when she got home at the end of the day.

To Be Continued


	61. Unnecessary but Obligatory Zoey and Nellie Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> IDK, random filler thing with Nellie and Zoey.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Jackie the GP30 is the trainsona of EsquimaltNanaimi on DeviantArt

The brunette humanoid GMD GP30 awoke in her recliner. Her vision was blurry, only able to see the light cast from the window shining against one of the walls. She put on her glasses and looked around now able to see clear as day. She looked upon the sleeping chubby ginger with fox ears on the sofa nearby.

Zoey stretched and closed the foot rest of the chair before she stood up and headed to her room to get ready for the day.

Nellie stirred awake, still holding in her arms her small white rabbit that had a brown bow. She yawned adorably and softly said to the cotton stuffed toy, “Good morning, my bunny.” She peeked over the arm rest and saw Zoey was gone. She asked her rabbit, “I wonder where she went.”  
The ginger stood up and headed to the room she was supposed to be in to put the blankets and stuff away before she would go to try and locate her best friend.

The brunette opened her closet and pulled out one of the lighter fabric blue and white striped shirts and some white khaki shorts since today was going to be a hot one.  
She changed out of one of her copies of her pajamas she had and put on her daywear with a smile.  
As she glanced over at her mirror on the back of her closet she saw her hair had become curly from her shifting in her sleep.  
“Guess I should fire up the flat iron.” Zoey said to herself as she went to her nightstand to retrieve her brush, her mascara, her detangling conditioner spray and her flat iron. She took off her glasses to start preparing herself for the day.

Nellie, once dressed and having put the blankets back the bed with the pillows, she walked down the hall to the room with the blue painted door. She had never been in Zoey’s bedroom before. Cautiously she placed her hand on the door knob and waited for the courage to open it.

Zoey did her best to try to see her reflection as she put on a bit of mascara to make her eyelashes look longer before setting down one of the few things of minimal makeup she had. The brunette untied her ponytail and looked at how it looked hanging over her shoulders, thinking about the photo of her from her Hippie Days she had seen last night. She put the straightener and her elastic away.  
“I’m wearing it down today,” she proclaimed as she put on her glasses again

Nellie, after four awkward minutes of debating on what to do, was about to turn the door knob when the door knob turned. She let go of it and looked up at her bespectacled friend.

The brunette’s fluffed up hair resembled the shape of her cab when she was a diesel. She greeted politely as she looked down at Nellie, “Good morning, Nellie. How was your sleep?”

Nellie just kind of looked at Zoey.

“Yes, Nellie…” Zoey sighed, “I’m wearing my hair down today. Yes it’s different.”

Nellie responded, “Sorry, I just meant to say I slept well. I just… It is kind of surprising because…”

The brunette with the blue dye in her forelock responded a little annoyed that Nellie was so bamboozled, “Because you’ve never seen me with it like this. Well, I mean… I don’t know. For nostalgia sakes I guess.”  
It clicked in the humanoid GP30’s mind why Nellie was being so weird. She remarked, “My sister wore hers down all the time, didn’t she?”

Nellie responded, “While she did, that’s not why, it just.” She snickered a little and replied, “It’s kinda in the same shape as your cab.”  
She watched as her friend glanced over at the mirror and saw the general shape of her poofy hair before she burst into laughter upon seeing Nellie’s observation.

The brunette answered as she adjusted some frizzy ringlets, “Well, what d’ya know? It is! How quirky is that?” She responded, “Maybe I should wear it like this more often.”

Nellie internally was screaming because she was panicking that she would fall for the only other GMD GP30, and if she screwed up with Zoey then she’d have no more chances with any GP30s, as the rest of them were EMD and ergo related to the SW1001.

“Well then. I have a surprise planned for you, Nellie!” Zoey remarked as she walked towards the door and looked down at the 5’3” woman, “Trust me, you’ll like it. It’s girly, like you, even if you won’t admit that you’re girly.”

To Be Continued


	62. Apparently Not Good News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Lazuli hears her Uncle Macswell is undergoing repairs at EMD and she flips her shit
> 
> Star, Macswell, Lazuli, Red, Patricia and Angie are all my OCs

While the Nellie and Zoey were at the Clarion’s mineral spa just chilling in the mineral bath and raiding the fridge of the seemingly endless supply of yogurt, Lazuli was doing an amazing job with Annanova managing the yard with Patricia and Red. 

Lazuli, with the help of Annanova, switched Neil into the yard across the road towards the ending block of the rails.  
She was driven back, smiling proudly, looking to the two RS23s who were busily switching the water district train after the trip back from Shoal Lake.

The GP20-ECO happily stated as she watched one of the GWWD diesels burble and clatter over to the refueling station, “This is actually really cool. So how was Shoal Lake, Red?”

The red and white diesel laughed as their driver helped refuel them, “Well, it’s a lot of flat for a long time, then there’s a fuckton of trees, then it gets rocky and there’s still trees, and then you get there.”

Lazuli recalled a time she helped take the waterworks train and remembered that it was like that, and she reiterated, “No, like how was the trip this time.”

“Flat, then trees, then rocks and trees and then lake,” the RS23 joked before they clarified, “But as in quality? I mean, yeah, it was kinda fun. I saw some deer and black bears and a field of cattle.”

The diesels worked until about mid-afternoon, talking about different things.

The sound of a loud K5LA rang out in the air.

Lazuli looked towards the entrance of the yard and exclaimed joyfully, “Star!”  
The GP unit used her computer to get the gate to open for the AC44

The gate opened and Star rolled into the yard. She exclaimed as she saw Lazuli, “Laz! Laz! Laz! I HAVE AMAZING NEWS!” The AC44 turned into a human and clambered up onto the pilot of her repowered girlfriend’s catwalk and sat down in front of the red diesel’s face, excited to tell all.

Lazuli giggled and excitedly asked, “So what’s the news then, my sparkling Star?”

“Oh! Well, umm…” Star thought aloud as she tried to remember before she exclaimed, “Oh! Angie and the other SD40s are coming back to mainline and yard duties!”

Lazuli giggled excitedly, “Oh wow! We get to see her more often then!”

“You know Macswell too right?” Star asked, still smiling happily.  
Lazuli made a sound of acknowledgement before Star replied, “He and the other SD70MACs are returning to service.”

The green eyed diesel smiled and then recounted as she looked up on her internal computer, “Didn’t CP have issues with them before?”

Star eagerly answered, not thinking about what Lazuli had been through, “He’s going to EMD to get a few repairs with the others.”

“No… NO!” Lazuli responded, remembering her nightmare about when she was repowered. Had she still been able to drive herself, she would’ve been driving forward and backward at an anxious pace. She stammered, “Th-they could… th-they c-could kill him!” She panicked now as her compressor kicked on, “Not Uncle Macswell!! This isn’t fair, we have to do something!”

It dawned on Star and she covered her mouth in fear. She lowered her hands before she asked, “But… what if it’s not that bad?”

“My sister and I told we were just undergoing a routine maintenance, and then she DIED during the repower. I can’t drive myself anymore. I lost almost all my memories of my life before repowering. It now makes no sense why my name is Lazuli because my eyes are ultra-green!” Lazuli stated in fear and disgust, she didn’t want this to happen.

Star suggested innocently, “We could ask your big sis when she gets home. She can help us save your uncle!”

And so the two young diesels waited for Zoey to show up so they could tell her the bad news.

To Be Continued


	63. Let's Go Ask Macswell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey hears from Lazuli about Macswell and the two start trying to figure out how to save him.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Star, Macswell, Lazuli, and Scarlet are all my OCs  
> Ruby is the dieselsona of The-Heroine-Fi

The blue and white 1970 VW Van pulled into the GWWD yard through the vehicle gates and drove up to the station.

Lazuli and Star had been waiting at the office building's platform for Zoey to arrive.

The brunette stepped out of the vehicle and looked to the two adolescent humanoid diesels and softly asked, "Hey there, Laz and Star, what's with the glum faces?," while Nellie exited the vehicle's passenger side.

"Sis, it's not good." Lazuli began as she uncrossed her arms, "He's going to EMD to get upgraded."

Zoey froze as she heard this. She remarked with worry and surprise, "Upgraded?"

The green eyed girl with the cat ears remarked, her voice sounding more frantic, "He might become like me, unable to drive himself. What are we going to do, Zoe?"

Nellie interrupted with an observation, "We could just... take him... I mean, how hard is it to steal a diesel? My sister helped steal Scarlet and Ruby from here when they were being used for parts to save their lives."

"Nellie... stealing from CP, when they're our customers is a dangerous game," the humanoid GP30 retorted softly before rubbing her forehead as her efforts to think were causing her to get a migraine.  
The brunette paced a bit, she really didn't like that this was happening after she and Nellie just came back from a nice day at the mineral spa.

Star remarked optimistically, "What if we just need to trust EMD this time? I know it's kind of scary, but I mean. He's not a Geep like us three are."

"But what if EMD does what they did when Hunter Harrison was alive, Star?" Lazuli choked, some memories coming back fuzzy but enough was remembered that it caused her upset.

Zoey sighed and remarked, "Maybe, we should ask Uncle Macswell first. See what he wants to do, and if he wants to proceed, then we leave him be. If not, I'll.. I'll try to buy him."  
She really didn't want to have to shell out 40 to 50 grand just to buy her Uncle, but that's just what it was boiling down to.

Nellie asked as she put her hand back on the door of the VW microbus, "Hey, I mean... I don't have much say, but what if we go now and ask and then we could stop at VJ's for dinner. Zoey and I were going to take you girls later anyways."

Star stood up and helped Lazuli back into her wheelchair as she asked, "Do you two mean it?"

"I... I mean, Nellie kind of just made up that plan, but honestly, I kinda like it!" Zoey remarked as she walked back to the vehicle. She looked to Nellie and softly asked, "Nel, can you drive this time? My head is aching."

Nellie nodded and headed over to the driver's side. While she didn't drive often, she drove really well and quite cautiously.

Star brought Lazuli down the access ramp and up to the VW van before she packed in the wheelchair and helped Lazuli get in.

Once all the humanoid diesels were in the car, Nellie turned the key and remarked with a slight smile, "Onward! To Arlington!"

To Be Continued


	64. Macswell's Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Laz and Zoey head down to Weston Shops to ask Macswell about how he feels about being sent to EMD for a rebuild
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Star, Macswell, and Lazuli are all my OCs

The four girls rode to McPhilips Station Casino and drove up to the gates to the Weston Shops gate.

The worker at the security gate stopped them from entering, statin sternly, “I’m sorry, foaming isn’t allowed on property.”

Zoey tapped Nellie on the shoulder and pointed to the vehicle’s driver’s side visor.

The fox-eared ginger flipped down the visor, enabling the security guard to see Zoey’s BUNX CEO badge, which pretty much got her onto almost all railway property since she was on good terms with all of the railways in Winnipeg.

The man nodded as he answered, now in a welcoming tone, “Oh, gracious, Miss Krolik, I didn’t know it was you. You and your friends may come in and see your friends, just be safe.”

Zoey chuckled and remarked, “Don’t fret it. You were just doing your job.” Before she looked to the driver of her van and softly said, “Let’s roll.”

Nellie waved farewell silently to the man before they drove into the fenced in area, looking around for where Macswell was parked for the evening.

As the girls turned down a row of diesels, they all were greeted friendily by AC44s, SD40s, hell, even some of Star’s siblings.

Star rolled down the window and poked her head out greeting all of her siblings that were waiting for minor fixes.

Finally, they reached the shop itself, and in one of the bays was Macswell, just resting after he over exerted himself that day and needed to cool down.

Nellie parked the car, and Zoey got out, helping Lazuli out and placing the humanoid GP20-ECO on her shoulders since the ground wasn’t ideal for her wheelchair.

“Well, if it isn’t my two favourite nieces,” Macswell began with a kind smile, “What brings you girls by?”

Star called out from the car, “It’s about what you said about earlier, Mister Macswell,”

Lazuli spoke rapidly, her anxiety clearly audible in her voice, “Uncle, I know you might want to get upgraded, but when I was upgraded, it took away my ability to drive myself. It restricted my freedoms so much.” She breathed in unaware her eyes were beginning to leak tears as she continued, “I don’t want you to endure the pain I did.”

“If you want to leave CP, I’m willing to purchase you now. I wouldn’t mind doing so,” Zoey continued for her younger sister.

The larger diesel smiled before he reassured, “Girls, it’s alright. I have already weighed the possible consequences, and it’s quite alright. However, my current issues that I have already make daily life a struggle… If the discomfort stops, then I’m more than happy to try what EMD is offering.”  
He seemed very sure of himself, and while there was some nervousness about it, he just wanted to be able to be healthy.

Lazuli wiped her tears as she asked, “Are you 100 percent sure?”

“I am as sure as I know that I was built with hazel eyes.” He remarked. He was right, his eyes were as hazel as they came.

Zoey patted her uncle-figure’s pilot before she remarked with a smile, “I hope the rebuild goes well. Let us know when you’re back in town after it.”

He chuckled and remarked, “I’ll probably head out start of August and be back by probably September. Don’t worry too much, you kids.”  
The large diesel remembered something and remarked, “Hey, Zoe, I heard word from some 35s that went to visit the old GMD plant that your aunts are still alive.”

“Aunt Sandy and Milly?” Zoey replied in shock. She hadn’t heard those names in 40 years. The brunette asked, “Hey, Uncle Macswell? Could you get them to call me up sometime?”

Lazuli looked befuddled and asked, “Who are these people?”

Macswell laughed and replied, “You’re a bit young to know, Laz, but Mildred was one of the most sure-of-herself and confident F-Units that Arlington had ever seen. And Sandy, a sweet little RS3, worked as a passenger train switcher. They were so pleasant, that when they were retired, CP let them go to Ontario to live out the rest of their material lives.”

Zoey thought fondly of the two older diesels, smiling with nostalgia.

Star poked her head out of the car and called to Laz and Zoey, “Hey guys, I know I’m just in a resting state and I have a good metabolism, but I’m getting hungry. Can we go for dinner soon, please?”

Macswell laughed and remarked to Zoey, “Don’t worry about hanging around with me. You guys go have dinner. I’ll catch up with you two tomorrow, Laz and Zoe.”

The two girls laughed and in unison remarked, “Thanks Uncle Macs.”  
The both gave him a sort of hug before they headed back to the VW van.

The brown eyed woman helped her little sister into the van before getting into the front passenger seat. She asked kindly, “Well Nellie, can you drive us to pick up dinner?”

Nellie started up the car and remarked, “Gladly, Zoey.”

To Be Continued.


	65. A Kind Offer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is sad that she has to go back to sleeping at the station, but Zoey has other plans
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me

Thursday morning arrived, Nellie wasn’t ready to go back to work, but thankfully after that day and Friday she would be able to worry about going to the local anime convention and having just all-in-all a fun time with Zoey, Red, Lazuli, and Blizzard, who would also be coming with her. The ginger covered her face with a pillow after glancing at her phone, seeing that it was 6:30am.

There was a knock at the door of the SW1001’s bedroom.

Nellie called out, muffled by the pillow, “Please go away, Zoey. I’m still tired.”

The brunette entered the room anyways and gently remarked, “Now, now, Nellie, I know you’re still tired, but I’m just wanted to say, that I made cinnamon crepes. I figured it might get you off to a better start than just plain old diesel fuel.”

The ginger sighed and took the pillow off her face and looked up at the brunette with her ponytail full of puffy brown and pale blue ringlets. Nellie softly joked, “Curse you and your ability to make my favourites.”

“Oh, come now, Nel, you like all this positivity and care,” Zoey remarked with a smile before she turned and went to go check on the crepe that was in the pan in the kitchen.

Nellie internally agreed as she stood up to do her hair and get changed into a day outfit. She was sad she’d have to go back to sleeping in the station.

Once the ginger was dressed and ready, she headed into the kitchen where the scent of cinnamon was abundant and comforting.

The brunette was already sitting at the little circular table in the kitchen area. She patted the seat beside her and remarked, “I’m glad you chose to join me.”

“I mean I am awake now, so yeah…” Nellie stated before falling silent, looking down at the 3 crepes rolled up that were filled with honey-crisp apple and drizzled with Aunt Jemima syrup. She remarked as she glanced back up at Zoey, “I’m… I’m going to miss staying here.”

Zoey choked on her apple juice that she had just took a sip of. After she managed to stop coughing, she asked “Nellie, why do you think you have to stay elsewhere?”

“Because this isn’t my house, I sleep in the station.”

The brunette soothed gently as she cut one of her crepes, “Nellie, you don’t have to stay there. I want you to live here.”

Nellie was floored as she didn’t understand why Zoey would want a pessimist living under her roof. She stammered, “B-but… What i-if we g-got into a disagreement? W-wouldn’t that be, uh, well… kinda awkward?”

“Nellie, I’ve not seen you so happy since you’ve been staying here. Any awkwardness would be fine as we tend to work things out.”

The fox-eared girl looked away worried, she didn’t know what to say. This was the kindest anyone had been to her since last year. Finally the words came to her and she softly said as she stood up, “Thank you so much, Zoey.”  
She walked over to the girl with the bunny nose and gave her a tight side hug.

Zoey giggled and set down her cutlery. She remarked friendily, “Don’t worry, Nellie. You’re my best friend. That’s just what best friends do!”

Nellie stopped hugging her best friend and sat back down to have her breakfast.

Although the day would be bad, Nellie at least knew that Zoey had her back, and that maybe things would be alright.

To Be Continued


	66. Lucy and Nellie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie comes back to the yard to see that Lucy and Ellie have arrived, however the fact that Lucy is there doesn't sit well with Nellie.
> 
> also yes, Lucy IS a lion. And yes, Ellie might be older by material age, she isn't by psychological age. Ellie is psychologically set at 20, whereas Nellie psychologically set at 24
> 
> after this one is the timeskip to September in the series, just because I have no ideas for August in Distorted Diesels
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Ellie the SW7 is a personality residing within me  
> Lucy Dalton is my OC  
> Jackie the GP30 is the trainsona of EsquimaltNanaimo  
> Humanoid Duncan is based off of Duncan from the Railway Series as well as the TTTE series and belongs to Mattel

Friday afternoon arrived, Nellie was let off work early, she rolled towards the entrance of the GWWD yard, she saw something, or rather a someone.  
This someone was sky blue and chickadee yellow.  
Nellie honked excitedly and roared down the track eagerly, she exclaimed as she drew nearer, “ELLIE! ELLIE! ELLIE!”  
The SW1001 flew through the open gate and stopped as she soon saw another someone with paint of the most sparkling of veronica purple accompanied with, a 4-4-0 better known as The Lucy Dalton, or Lucy for short.

Nellie slammed on her brakes as she saw that Lucy was talking to Zoey, feeling her oil run cold, since her and Lucy weren’t on the best of terms… to put it lightly

Ellie greeted eagerly, “Hi big sis! How was work at CN today?”

The SW1001 was a touch uncomfortable to answer that question honestly to Ellie, as she had just been yelled at all day, and now she would have to deal with Lucy. She sighed, "Ell, why did Lucy come along? You know she doesn't get along with me since... well..."

“She wanted to come and drop off a few of your things and to make sure my travel was safe here because Duncan had a gig to play,” the most precious SW7 you had ever seen said, her aquamarine eyes sparkling with cartoonish joy, “I can’t wait to come along to the convention, Nell!”

The 4-4-0 focused deeply and shifted forms, graciously becoming a deeper grey-skinned woman, in a purple dress, matching heels, small rounded ears and a tail with a small tuft of hair the same lustrous and silky black as her 1950’s style bob. She proudly stated to Zoey, “While I do have corruption here in the non-cartoon world, I do think it fits me.”

Zoey glanced over the woman’s shoulder upon seeing her best friend and waved over to the

Nellie approached, for a few seconds the only sound she emitted was the rumble and anxious clatter of her engine, she softly spoke once a few metres from the two, “H-hey Lucy… How’s the Mountain Preservation Railway?”

Lucy turned to face the switcher diesel and in a slightly salty way remarked, “Well, if you recall, you had left some things behind and Ellie asked me to hold onto them, despite some other opinions to have them given to charity or used as shop rags, or at least costume clothes for Ellie.”

Nellie realized she was talking about her clothing and art supplies, she looked to a large box marked in black sharpie, ‘NELLIE’S THINGS’. She quickly shifted down and ran over to the box. She opened it up to see plush toys, her sketchpads and pens, and of course her off-the-clock wear.

The bespectacled brunette curiously reached into the box and pulled out a navy blue and hot pink plaid ruffled blouse. She chuckled, “Goodness, Nellie, you really are a girly girl in denial. I would’ve killed for something like this when I was younger.”

“I have no idea how to respond to that,” the ginger fox-eared girl stated, one ear pointing down in confusion.

Lucy looked at Nellie up and down as if scanning for further corruption since she last saw Nellie before remarking, “Oh goodness, dear, your nose is fox-i-fied too now? What happened anyways?”

The ginger, suspecting that Lucy was just being condescending remarked, “Work happened. You’d know... You BOUGHT me as a ‘little present’ for Jacqueline. Like as if I was a doll!”  
Before Lucy could explain herself, the ginger breathed in and stormed around the corner of the station before she could even begin to go feral and would try to mangle the humanoid Baldwin 4-4-0, so removing herself from the situation would be loads better than having her little sister see Lucy get beat up by Nellie.

Zoey smiled awkwardly and softly asked, “Could you just give me 5, Luc? I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Oh, Zoey, how you have so much patience with her is commendable.”

The brunette sighed and replied in a stern tone, “No, Lucy… She’s an engine just like you and I. She needs some time and some help to try to recover from all that she did.”

Lucy raised a hand to her mouth out of realizing her wording was a bit off, her glittering nails shone as she responded softly from behind them, “I meant that you’re helping her. I was honestly scared she was progressing to the worse.”

“Yeah, well the last months have been hell for her, she’s had worse days during then she’s had better ones during then. EVERY DAY, is a new or old struggle,” the brown eyed girl sternly explained, she glanced at the corner of the station before adding, “If you didn’t show so much salt, maybe she wouldn’t feel so threatened and upset.”  
Zoey turned on her heel and marched over to where Nellie was trying to calm down.  
She saw Nellie leaning against the wall, lightly banging her forehead against the bricks.  
“Hey, now, Nell. She was a out of line for joking that way.”

“Oh, and I’m in the wrong for being upset that she’s here to probably just put me down again? I mean, she was the first one to come to my display cage and scream at me for ‘hurting her precious GP30’ like… You don’t THINK that would leave SOME residual scarring?”

Zoey placed a hand gently on Nellie’s shoulder and softly stated, “I wasn’t going to say that,” she continued, “but I want you to give Lucy a chance. After all, she’s Ellie’s aunt on her dad’s side.”

The fox eared girl sighed and remarked as she looked to her best friend, “You’re right… I should try. For my baby sister.”

Zoey smiled and remarked, “Alright, let’s try this again, alright?”

Nellie nodded softly.

The brunette whispered, “Okay, on the count of 3, we head out alright? One… two… three…”

A smile began to creep onto Nellie’s face knowing what Zoey was going to say next.

The two girls, in unison said both to each other sort of loudly, “PUDDING” before they both giggled.

Nellie and Zoey walked together back over to Lucy who was waiting for the two to come back.

“Hey, Nellie, that was awful of me. I’m rather sorry to bring up touchy things like that.” The humanoid steam engine remarked, her normally proud posture, was more humble showing she was, indeed, apologetic.

The grey-ish blue eyed woman remarked softly, “Lucy, I’m sorry for not giving you a chance. I know you hurt me before, and I know you purchased me because Jackie wanted me to be safe, and while that didn’t work out, I’m actually still thankful for it.” Nellie hugged Lucy gently and continued, “Thank you for helping me. I’m sorry I blew it so badly.”

The humanoid steam engine who had been built 1871 responded kindly, “Gracious, Nellie, thank you for the apology. I’m sorry also for saying that about your belongings… even if I don’t agree with your clothing choices.”

Zoey coughed and looked at Lucy sternly.

“But to each their own tastes I suppose.” Lucy corrected with a smile.

Ellie trundled over excitedly, her bell ringing joyfully, all her class lights lit up. She asked joyfully, “What’cha doing?”

Zoey remarked, “Just mending some burnt bridges, Ell. Want to come with Lucy, Nell and I for some Dairy Queen?”

“YES PLEASE!” The cheery blue diesel remarked before she shrunk down to her adorable human form and hugged all three of her engines, all of them her favourite but for different reasons.

To Be Continued


	67. August 24th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie meets a human identical to her humanoid form and has apple crumble with friends who are trying to help her combat the Autumn Depression that's beginning to set in.
> 
> I slipped myself into this chapter because idk, I thought it'd be funny, so Jen is me  
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Ellie the SW7 is a personality residing within me  
> Rainy is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Lucy, Debbie, Blizzard, Ruby, Scarlet, Red, Lazuli, Angieand Star are my OCs  
> Ruby is the trainsona of The-Heroine-Fi on DeviantArt

The early signs of autumn were beginning to set around August 24th. Autumn was a season which Nellie didn’t like; wasps were more prominent, it was starting to get dark out by 8 o’clock, leaves were falling, the geese were beginning to fly south… all of this hindered the SW1001 immensely.  
To combat this, Zoey and the others had planned a little surprise for the gloomy little switcher.

Nellie woke up in her bed, surrounded by her various plushies, holding onto her most beloved white rabbit stuffy with the little brown bow upon its chest.  
She sighed while thinking about how today was the second anniversary of her party in Nanaimo and normally, for whatever reason, where ever she seemed to work in the past was a special day for her, probably because she normally was picked up by a railway on that day.  
‘”Aw, F, I forgot to switch those tanker cars at the yard last night like Zoey asked.” Nellie huffed before she finally got out of bed and switched out of her light cotton pink and black pajamas.  
The switcher got dressed in her day clothes, walked out of her room, and was about to head out the door when she was stopped by Zoey.

“Good morning, Nellie, what’s got you rushing out the door before breakfast?” The brunette asked worriedly as she un-wrapped some soggy slightly burnt toast from some tinfoil.

Nellie looked over and remarked, “Did you make me take-out toast?”

Zoey responded as she brought the two pieces of toast with light margarine over to Nellie, “Perhaps.”

The oven beeped, causing Nellie to notice the scent in the air of apple crumble.  
She smiled and laughed, “Is that apple cinnamon scented thing in the oven also for me?”

The brown eyed woman shrugged and remarked with a nervous chuckle, “No, no, not entirely.”

“Zoey…” Nellie sighed with a smile as she accepted the toast and sat down at the table to have her toast, “Is this because it’s August 24th?”

“If it is, would you be mad?”

Nellie smiled and laughed, “Zoe, you’re a gem,” the ginger’s tone turned less jovial as she continued, “It’s just a day, it’s nice to not have to work ever on the 24th of August, but I mean, it isn’t important.”

Zoey put on some oven mitts and took the hot apple crumble out of the oven that would be for later, it smelled heavenly.

Nellie stopped eating her toast when she realized something.  
“Why do you always call me out for being girly, anyways, Zoey? I mean, look at you. Your hair is nearly as long as mine, longer with the extensions, you like baking, you took the clothes that Jackie sent back that I bought her.”

“I mean, there’s no need for those clothes to end up as rags,” Zoey answered before she responded, “And anyways, I’m just only letting you know that you’re girly, even if you deny it and want to cover it up.”

The fox ears of the chubby lass pointed down as she answered, “You were never talked down to for wanting to feminine things after years of not wanting to do them because you didn’t want to be forced to wear bows or ruffles and lace.”

This hit a sensitive spot with the humanoid GP30 as she remarked softly, “While I wasn’t I did have some other problems regarding…”

Nellie interrupted as she blurted out apologetically, “OH, sorry! I forgot you’re not cis.”

The brunette laughed softly and asked, “Well, I mean, while I feel a little awkward from that, I’m pleased to know I pass that well.”

Nellie silently left, while feeling bad.  
The humanoid SW1001 walked down the gravel road up to the rail gate of the GWWD yard and stood on her tippy-toes to enter in her entry code before she could walk into the yard.  
The freckled young woman stood with her two feet touching rail and focused deeply before becoming her normal self, the shining off of her black, red and white paintwork.

BUNX’s most recent acquisition, the SD40-2 with the deep grey scales on his face remarked upon opening his eyes from his slumber, “Good Morning, Nellie. I thought your paint was matte finish.”

“Shut up, Rainy. I’ve been going human more often, so I feel I need to part-take in human culture of bi-daily wash-downs.” Nellie remarked

“Too much information, there Nell, but at least I know you’re taking better care of yourself.” The crocodilian-like diesel remarked, smiling cheekily at his coworker.

The SW1001 looked around and asked, "Hey, what happened to the tanker cars I was supposed to move?"

Rainy remarked, "Zoey asked me to move them, I guess one less thing for you to do, I mean your yesterday was pretty bad after all."

Nellie didn't respond to Rainy's words as she was looking over to the fence of the GWWD and saw a black car drive up to the open gate. This didn’t resemble any of the cars of the GWWD workers, but she had seen it drive around before.

A short and chubby ginger, eerily similar looking to Nellie stepped out of the car. Her skin was pale as the moon, the longer parts of her ginger hair pulled back into a ponytail while the smaller front section came only down to her lips, her eyes were the same greyish-blue as Nellie’s and she had the same physical dimensions.

Nellie softly asked to Rainy, “Who the actual fuck is that?”

“Oh, you mean her? She’s a local rail fan. I saw her once over by Costco and she and I chatted a bit.”

Nellie stared more and remarked softly, hoping the human wouldn’t hear her, “That’s Ellie’s human friend.”

The stocky 25 year old walked out from behind the old station’s parking and walked up to the line, seeing whom she didn’t initially see, she dropped her cellphone and gasped in awe.

Nellie remarked, “Miss? You dropped your phone.”

The human just started handspazzing and jumping up and down excitedly.

Rainy laughed as he looked at the human and joked, “What? Never see a diesel before?”

The human girl remarked excitedly once she composed herself a little better, “You’re an SW1001!”  
She walked up to Nellie and began eagerly asking questions, “Where did you first work? What’s your favourite colour? Do you have a significant other? Can you turn human?”

Nellie was overwhelmed but joyfully remarked, “Lake Terminal in Ohio, I love the colours pink and black, also cyan and other light blues because my sister. I’m not dating anyone, and yes I can turn human.”

The next question caught Nellie off guard, “May I hug you?”

The SW1001 looked down at the human and remarked, “But… I’m a diesel… an operational one who might accidentally hit you with my air hose, or mark up your nice shirt with the rust on my coupler, or something.”

The human remarked sadly, “Shoot, right… I’m sorry.”

“No no, it’s alright, Miss…”

“Jennifer”

Nellie’s engine skipped as she heard this and asked, “Jennifer… Like… as in my sister Ellie’s Canadian friend, the same one who sometimes this E&N volunteer engineer once mentioned.”

The ginger remarked, “Are you psychic?”

“At times yes,” Nellie remarked without thinking

Rainy awkwardly chimed in, “Looks like Nellie’s met her humansona.”

Zoey drove into the yard, and exited the vehicle. She had been coming to see how Nellie was doing and saw the human who looked nearly identical to her beloved diesel. She approached and asked in her best business-owner voice, “Hello there Miss, I presume you’re a railfan.”

Jennifer looked over at Zoey and just about jumped, she remarked, “Oh, sorry Miss, I just… I just came here to see some diesels while on my way to fuel up before heading out of town.”

Zoey smiled and offered, “Would you like some BUNX postcards? We have ones for the whole fleet, including Nellie here.”

The human remarked softly, “Yes, but I actually was wondering if I could give a diesel a hug today.”

The brunette smiled and answered, “That can be arranged. While rail safety is key, I’m sure Nellie wouldn’t mind a quick hug.”  
She looked to her best friend who put on her three-point protection as to not accidentally move.

Nellie responded, “Jen here knows Ellie.”

Jen went to the side of the SW1001 and hugged near the steps that would go up to Nellie’s catwalk.

Zoey noticed the phone on the ground and picked it up before asking, “Would you like a photo of this?”

“I wouldn’t want to trouble you, Miss,” Jen remarked before she let go of Nellie and went to get her phone back.

Zoey gave the iphone back to the human before going into the station for a minute and coming back with a plethora of postcards.  
She remarked, “Remember, anytime is train time, and if you want to see more diesels, try during the week before 8, that’s around dispatch time.”

The ginger human responded joyfully, “You’re the best railway worker I’ve ever met.”

Nellie corrected, “She also owns BUNX too.”

The human was floored and asked, “You’re probably my age, how are you running a rail rental company?”

“I’m not as young as I look,” Zoey remarked with a laugh before the ginger had to leave and drove out of the yard, beaming joyfully.

Nellie laughed and responded, “That’s so funny. I met my sister’s Canadian friend.”

Zoey stated as she watched the person drive away down Dawson Road, “She looks a lot like you.” The brunette smiled as she turned back to Nellie, proclaiming joyfully, “Anyways, let’s go in the station.” The humanoid GP30 went to the VW Van and got out the apple crumble before heading into the brick building

Rainy shapeshifted into his anthropomorphic crocodile form and also followed, with a now humanoid Nellie following along too.

Nellie entered the office and was greeted by Ellie, Lucy, Debbie, Blizzard, Ruby, Scarlet, Red, Lazuli, Angie and Star. It was a small celebration for Nellie.

Thus everyone had apple crumble and their presence made Nellie feel a little better about life and herself.

To Be Continued


	68. Zoey's Gay Aunts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey and Nellie are spending a day inside when they get an unexpected call from two diesels who helped raise Zoey when she was a youngin'
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Mildred, Sandra, Macswell, and Lazuli are all my OCs

The late August Sunday in Winnipeg was drizzly rainy and a rather unpleasantly chilly one.  
As a result of this, the two humanoid switchers were holed up in Zoey’s industrial home making invoices and watching Netflix.

“Want me to make us some popcorn, Nell?” Zoey asked happily as she adjusted the zipper on her action red cardigan.

Nellie asked curiously as she looked at her best friend, “Sure, but, why do you like wearing the CP sweater?”

The brunette shrugged and remarked, “It’s warm and I love the colour. Wait is it uncomfortable to you because it’s a rescinded gift from my sister?”

Nellie didn’t want to admit Zoey was right and just answered, trying to sound truthful, “No, no, I just… I kind of got rid of my yellow clothes when I went to CN, I really didn’t like yellow. It’s just sometimes strange to me to see a diesel who is happy with their paint to wear their old colours.”

Zoey softly sighed, “I wasn’t always happy with being blue, Nellie.” She continued as she glanced at a decorative mirror in the living room, “I never want to go through a repainting again, especially if it’s going to be done carelessly.”

The fox eared girl recalled when she herself was repainted to CN that she had scrapes and her bangs were too short and it was a little uncomfortable. She looked to Zoey and curiously asked, “So what did happen?”

Zoey took a breath in and was about to tell, when Zoey’s skype on her laptop had a call coming in.

The avatar for the caller was a pair of two older looking ladies in matching CP sweaters and the username was ‘ArlingtonGalPals’

Zoey quickly answered the call and placed the computer on the table, in front of her, hoping it was who she thought it was, and was thankful she put on grey makeup to cover her rabbit nose.

The call accepted and sure enough, on the other end of the call was her two aunts, Mildred and Sandra.  
The taller, bustier woman with maroon and grey hair answered first, “Macswell was right, this was Zoey’s line.”

The shorter, once blonde, but now ashy grey haired woman to the right of Mildred softly greeted, “Hello sweetie. It’s been a while.”

The brown eyed girl’s eyes welled up as she exclaimed joyfully, “Aunt Mil, Aunt Sandy! I’m so thankful you’re alive! I’m sorry I didn’t call I thought you were…”

“Turned into bobby pins and bra wire?” Mildred joked before remarking, “Don’t fret. We’re alright.”

Sandy interrupted softly, “Look at you, Zoey, all grown up and just as beautiful as we knew you’d be.”

“Oh, Aunt Sandy, you’re too sweet.” The brunette remarked with a smile.

“Why did you straighten your curls, dear? They look so nice on you,” Mildred asked before she noticed some movement in the corner of the video, “Who is with you?”

Nellie froze worriedly.

Zoey turned the laptop slightly and showed her aunts the fox-eared girl who waved shyly at the couple.

Mildred exclaimed joyously, “You found yourself a girlfriend!”

“No, auntie,” Zoey laughed, “She’s just my roommate, we’re not a couple.”

Sandy remarked as she looked at Nellie, “That’s too bad, she looks like a real catch.”

“Aunt Sandy, are you just saying that because she’s a natural ginger? I mean, I agree she's pretty but I mean, we're not a couple."

Nellie responded softly and nervously, “I appreciate the compliment… a-and it’s nice to meet you two.”

Sandra remarked, “Remember, Zoey when you were just a little lady and you used to go with us to tea?”

Nellie coughed out of surprise. She asked, “Zoey went to tea?”

Mildred chuckled and remarked, “She was dressed to the 9s, she had a big hat and a sundress adorned with ribbons and bows. Only once she put on nail varnish but didn’t like the smell.”

The brunette laughed as she remembered, “That stuff has a vile scent.”

“She didn’t care much for the tea, but she loved the dainties they served.” Sandra added with a smile, “I remember the CN ladies who also showed up who thought she was just so precious.”

Nellie inquired, “Where are you calling from, if you nice ladies don’t mind me asking. We’re in Winnipeg.”

Sandra remarked, “London, near the old GMD shops.”

Zoey looked at the background behind her aunts and saw it looked like a living room. The brunette asked, “Are you there now?”

“Goodness no, dear,” Mildred laughed softly before explaining with a smile, “Remember how my dear Sandra wanted to be a beautician?”

Zoey remarked happily, “Wait, so, Aunt Sandra, you’re finally…”

“Yes, I found a way to become a licensed beautician. We’re living in the loft above the shop.”

Nellie felt a little uncomfortable, she shifted out of frame, as she was worried Sandra was judging her hairstyle.

The brunette looked at Nellie and asked softly, “You alright, Nell?”

“I’m alright; it’s just not my conversation to be in.” the ginger replied, trying to get out of talking to the diesel couple on the computer.

Sandra remarked, “Dear, if you’re worried that I would want to make you over, that’s not how it works. If you’re happy as you are and it’s not hurting anyone, then express yourself how you feel. Additionally, I don’t see anything wrong with how you look, you’re definitely a pretty diesel.”

Nellie at least felt at ease now and responded with a quiet thank you.

Mildred continued, “As for me, I sell Avon products. It allows me plenty of time to be with my Sandra when she needs me, but still brings in some cash so I can buy lovely clothes. Speaking of which, dear, I adore that red on you.”

“Gosh, thanks Aunt Mil. I got it from Nellie, actually. She has a great taste in comfort clothes.”

Nellie turned a little flush because Zoey was talking so nicely about her as if she wasn’t a depressive fox girl who sometimes stole one too many strawberries from the crisper.

Sandy softly stated, “I do hope someday you two are a couple. You two would be so adorable together.”

Mildred added, “Also, we should go out there someday to see our little bunny again. Even if you’re all grown up and running a diesel rental.”

Zoey giggled at the mention of the old pet name, remembering that whenever she did something cute her aunts would call her their ‘bunny’. The humanoid GP30 answered happily, “I would love that. I’d love to show you all the staff here for BUNX. I could make you some nice apple crumble.”

Mildred laughed remembering how she and Zoey would go to the Arlington break room back in the day and bake cookies, crumbles, and box mix cakes at night time. She eagerly trilled, “That would be wonderful, dear.”

Nellie peeked back into frame and answered, “She makes a killer apple crumble. It’s really amazing.”

Zoey and her aunts talked about how things had been going, about Lazuli, about how Winnipeg has changed and all that kind of stuff for the next half hour until there was a ding in the background of the video from Sandra and Mildred.

Sandra remarked, “Oh, sounds like the pie is done now.”

“I’ll let you two go now. Hope the pie is good.” Zoey responded

Mildred began to stand up from the sofa she was on and stated with a smile, “Summer berry pie.”

The ashy haired humanoid RS3 softly stated, “See you later, Zoey. I’m so happy we found out you’re okay…”

Zoey happily answered, tears of happiness in her eyes as she replied, “See you later Aunties.”  
Just as she began to hang up she could hear Mildred asking, “Ask her how Jacqueline is doing.”  
She closed the laptop and looked over to Nellie before laughing nervously, “I don’t think we should tell them about you and Jackie, just to play it safe.”

Nellie anxiously laughed and responded, “Probably, yeah.”

The brunette looked down at the ground awkwardly, unsure of what next to say, she finally responded after a few minutes, looking into the greyish blue eyes of her best friend, “Want to go to the Forks and get some macrons?”  
‘Macrons’ was Zoey’s colloquialism for those French Oreos made of meringue.

The ginger nodded as she went to go get her hoodie, “That would be really awesome.”

The two girls then began to get ready to venture out into the rain.

To Be Continued


	69. Weird Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Uh Oh, looks like the girls are having feelings for each other but are too scared to share them. XD
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me

It was late night, Nellie stared at the mirror in her room thinking about what the next day would hold, shuddering with misery. She needed a distraction, just something to help her relax enough to fall asleep. She laid back down, and picked up her phone, putting on some soothing sounds of rain, and took a breath in as she covered up with a soft-minky throw blanket  
She softly began describing to herself a large soothing bubble bath, imagining the blanket was the warm water. She imagined the scent of peppermint and rose soapy foam surrounding her, imagining her braid unwoven leaving her mid-back length wavy ginger mane draped over her pale shoulders. She could see it all in her mind.  
The soft rain sounds making her feel like she was taking a bubble bath during a rainy day. She relaxed her back and then her mind projected something into her little imagined scene, Zoey entering the bathroom in her bathrobe.  
The humanoid SW1001 covered up her chest with the thick foam of the bubbles to be modest. She apologized to her best friend who just smiled to her and remarked, “Gosh, you look beautiful.”  
Nellie was surprised, covering up herself more as she inquired back, “W… Zoey, that’s a little uncomfortable to hear. Could you please just use the washroom and head out?”  
The brunette responded as she de-robed showing her in her undergarments, “I was about to shower.”

Nellie had to open her eyes. She was uncomfortable that she was imagining such things. Zoey was her friend and nothing more. Yes, the GP30 was kind, and brilliant, as well as she was trustworthy and beautiful, and smelled like fresh picked roses; but she was only Nellie’s friend.

The SW1001 hugged her plush rabbit and asked, “What is wrong with me? I don’t like Jackie that way anymore… why am I sort of attracted to her sister? I don't like Zoey... right?" She was scared and confused

Meanwhile, Zoey, intentionally not asleep, was in her room looking at a drawing she “borrowed” from Nellie’s sketchbook. The drawing was of Zoey in her diesel form.  
The humanoid GP30 looked over Nellie’s cartoonish drawing of her. She admired how Nellie chose the perfect blue and how Zoey’s face looked so cheery yet sure-of-herself.  
“Oh, Nellie, I wish that you’d feel the same adoration I have towards you.” Zoey softly remarked to herself as she looked at another drawing of Nellie that Nellie made herself.  
“You might have had issues and are problematic at times, but I still like you,” the brunette thought jovially, “From your bell to your trucks.”  
The brunette laid down holding the picture up looking up at the cartoonish drawing of Nellie, drawing of course with an uncertain frown.  
She softly stated before setting the drawing down on her nightstand, “It’s funny she draws herself with a frown. Like she just assumes that her depression is just her only personality trait.”  
The brown eyed girl stared at the ceiling, hoping one day she and Nellie would be a couple someday, even if it would be 10 years down the road. She just wanted to make Nellie happy and feel loved.

To Be Continued


	70. The Secret of Nell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Malcolm comes to see Zoey with a secret about Nellie that could turn the tables and make Nellie fall for Zoey.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Malcolm Goldstein is my OC
> 
> The patching of Nellie's paint work wasn't done in a way with other intentions, Nellie's paint was flaking and she become way too grateful that she pretty much kissed the tracks Zoey's sister rolled upon

Nellie was at work at the CN Yard, while Zoey was working in the office station of GWWD. She wrote on a calendar quick numbers on the money for Nellie’s maintenance costs to see what she would be able to do for Nellie to try to give Nellie more to be happy about.

A worker of GWWD came to Zoey’s little work area and knocked on the door frame softly. She stated, “Miss Krolik, A humanoid diesel is here to see you. He says he’s Malcolm Goldstein.”

The brunette nodded and responded happily, “Send him in. I asked for him to come.”

The humanoid C40-8.5 walked into the office area and asked, “Hey Zoe. What’s, uh, you know, up?” He sat down in a chair facing the desk where Zoey was sitting.

“Sorry to call you in on your lunch break Malcolm, I’m going to make it quick,” the brunette stated as she wrote what she wanted to ask on a piece of paper and handed it to Malcolm.

‘What’s a way to get Nellie to fall for me?’ was written upon the paper, revealing how desperate Zoey was getting now.

Malcolm quietly responded, “While uh, t-that’s impossible, there, um, IS a way. It must, uh, be done right, o-or she could get very-very upset.”

Zoey was all ears. She looked upon Malcolm intensively waiting for the golden key that would make Nellie fall for her.

“Y-you ever notice, uh, how she’s f-fond of uh, of her human form’s hair?”

The brunette thought a bit and nodded

“Try to compliment it more… and uh, it… it might lead to her um, wanting you t-to ‘brand’ her.”

Zoey was horrified; the thought of burning Nellie with a metal rod to leave a mark disgusted her.

Malcolm explained, “No-no-no-no, not like that. Branding is, uh, when you change her look. She’s been, uh, ‘branded’ by a few diesels. When she got me to uh br-brand her, I gave her the-the black headband she um still seems to like to wear.”  
He continued nostalgically, “After that, she uh, got really affectionate.” The dark haired tall fellow continued to explain, “I know for sure she uh, was branded twice before me.”

The humanoid GP30 zoned out as things began to click in. She recounted when Nellie had her paint patched by Jackie back the prior year and Nellie became hood-over-wheels for the former CP 5000 out of pure affection. She thought silently about what it would mean to have Nellie adore her.

“Hey, Zoe, uh, earth to Zoey?” Malcolm called to the brunette who stared into space.

“Sorry, I… some things were just starting to make more sense.”

Malcolm suggested as he looked at the woman sitting at the steel desk, “I recommend offering to brush her hair to seal the deal.”

“No can do, I brushed it back in July because she neglected it and it got knotted, it was a lot of her wincing and vocalizing her discomfort, and she asked me to never do that again.” Zoey answered embarrassedly.

Malcolm remarked, “Do you brush yours that way?”

The brunette felt called out, but before she could defend herself, Malcolm’s watch beeped.

“I have to go now, Zoe. Sorry to leave you with questions still. Alright, so to recap; tell Nellie her she’s pretty, compliment her hair, and when the time is right, brand her.”  
He stood up and bid the GP30 farewell before he left to go back to CN.

The brunette sighed, she knew she wanted Nellie, but something was holding her back. She just didn’t feel right about the whole branding thing.

To Be Continued


	71. Memories of Rabbid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey recounts a memory of beating up humans because she didn't believe in compliance because she's weighing her options about Nellie
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Distorted-Diesels-Corrupt-Monster-Zoey-826412078  
> https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Quik-Doodle-Distorted-Diesels-A-Broken-Bunny-826412213
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me

Nellie had come home for the day, exhausted and sad looking, trudging to her room to go draw in silence, ears pointing downwards depressively.

Zoey called out to Nellie as she looked up from her rail magazine, “Should I throw some fries in the oven?”

The fox eared girl called back, “Yes please.”

Zoey pulled out of the freezer a bag of Cavendish Fries and threw them on a parchment lined baking pan before preheating the oven.

The brunette sat down and began weighing the option to ‘brand’ Nellie.

She sighed and began remembering.

It was a cold Nebraska March morning. The GMD GP30 awoke in the shop of Scoular and was ready to keep switching cars of wheat for the grain elevator.

A worker came up with a clipboard to the action red diesel and greeted, “Morning, 5001.”

“My name is Zoey…” she rebutted with some annoyance

“Right, right, Zoey, anyways today will be something different and a little more relaxed than switching grain,” the man answered as he looked up at the brown eyes of the diesel. He stated, “You’re being repainted to accept you into the fleet.”

The GP30 laughed shortly before she scoffed, “Pfft, yeah right. I talked with my driver a week ago, he said he would ask management to see if I could keep my red.”

The man coughed and responded sternly, “It was overturned.”

Zoey’s engine skipped and her oil ran cold. She stammered, “C-can’t it be at least pushed off a bit?”

“I’ll give you a few hours, go out, feel the sun on your red one last time and then come in and we’ll try to be gentle.”

The GP30 trundled out the shop door to look upon the still slightly snowy landscape and upon the people in their cars driving across the nearby crossing.

She turned human and went to climb up the grain elevator to go be alone. Once she was alone, she sat down on the catwalk near the grain chute.

The GP30 recalled when she went from maroon and grey to action red, and how it changed her humanoid form. She took a pocket mirror out of her pack pocket and looked at herself, her waist length soft ringlets of brown that she had kept growing since 1975 when her last repaint had made it barely grazed her shoulders. She cringed at the thought of having to lose all the progress she made.

“I have to do something. I have to do something…” Zoey softly said to herself.

An idea sparked in her mind. She was stronger than all of them, she was smarter than all of them, and she was faster than them. She smiled a devious smile as she decided silently to herself, “Well then, I’ll just fight them”

The GP30 proudly climbed down the ladder and channeled every feeling of anger and hatred once at the bottom. She thought deeply about how angry she was. She felt a tingling in her fingertips, it spread to her arms, and then her chest and her whole body. She breathed out, she felt something start to happen.

The humanoid diesel collapsed into the snowy ground, writhing and huffing, she felt her skin become warm alike a silky material was on it, her glasses fell off her face. She glanced down to see her CP action red shirt, or rather what was her shirt. It was now a chest plate. She examined her hands, they were paw-like and her arms up to her wrists were covered in chainmail. She reached her hands up to her face to feel she wasn’t wearing glasses and could see clear as day. Zoey smiled even more villainously, she walked up to the entrance way where the workers were waiting.

A worker looked upon the GP30’s form, looking at the helmet of the rabbit-like monster before looking at Zoey’s cat-like eyes, as she stood looking at them, one of the smaller hues of the eyes, more specifically the red hue, took over her irises and she proclaimed, “I demand that I keep my hue or you shall know pain.”

The shop supervisor scoffed and remarked, “We own you, you’re our diesel. You WILL do as we say.”

The creature with the waist length brown braid scoffed and growled with a smirk, “I think you’re mistaken. I have more strength than all of you.”

The supervisor told some workers to try to get Zoey.

The GP30 smiled and began her assault, she body-checked one of the workers, knocking him aside like a ragdoll, easily sending them sliding across the concrete floor. The second worker dived at Zoey’s braid, trying to pull her down. Zoey turned swiftly, making the worker’s grip loosen and he flew against some bags of sand.

The supervisor was now severely annoyed and he decided it was time to go get the tranquilizers. He headed away to the back to go get the bottle of sedatives.

The GP30 was closed in around by shop workers, backed against a fire escape ladder. She smiled as she looked up and began climbing fiercely up the ladder, too quick for the shop workers to keep up with her.

Once at the top, she punched the roof door open and climbed out onto the steel roof.

The wind blew on her ears, she couldn’t see them, but it felt like a nice breeze after all that fighting.

Zoey slid down the roof and landed on the ground. She was face to face with the supervisor, no exits readily available and was trapped between the shop and a fence.

The 6 foot 8 inch man barked angrily, “Give it up, Krolik, you can’t win. We would just stop you. You’re our property anyways.”

Zoey could see the way past the guy she just needed to get past him, and then run back to Canada where she could seek asylum.

She ran full tilt at him and jumped up over him, only to be grabbed by the ankle and brought down hard. This guy was stronger than she expected.

He huffed as he glared at her with his icy eyes, “You are a lot weaker than you look, young lady.”

Zoey turned to the man who had his fist clenched, for what she presumed was a punch. She smiled, her fangs were elongated and ready to cause the man a world of hurt.

She opened her mouth and clamped down on the man’s wrist, making him release two pill sedatives into the rabbit monster GP30’s mouth.

He shouted in agony, but smirked through the pain.

Zoey felt something go down her throat as well as some blood. She let go of the man’s wrist and growled, “What did you drop into me?” She stood up to finish him off but her footing was off and she landed on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Oh, just a sedative, say goodnight, Gracie.” He mocked, he had gotten the last laugh.

The brunette collapsed to the ground and all went dark.

Zoey remembered next what happened when she awoke.

She was painted blue with white on her front. She felt a strong headache. She turned into a human after a few minutes to examine the damage.

Right as soon as she turned human, she KNEW something was horribly wrong. Her head felt too light. She raced to a reflective surface.

It was worse than she could have imagined. Her hair was set to the ‘factory default’. She looked like the butch lesbian stereotype; short hair that looked like the end of a Q-Tip with fringe bangs that came down and hid her eyelashes. Not only that but her pale white skin was scratched and bruised, which didn’t help her feel any better.

She screamed in anger, punching the mirror.

The humanoid GP30 stood in her kitchen feeling horribly miserable, her eyes full of tears, from having just remembered all of it and how she didn’t dare turn human in public until at least 2008, and by then thankfully she had a more feminine look.

Nellie approached her best friend, worriedly as she had heard a sigh of sadness when she had come out to wash some marker ink off her hands, she softly asked, “Zoe? Are you alright, you’re crying.”

The humanoid GP30 responded, “Just… Just remembered something upsetting, I’ll be alright.”

Nellie asked, “So yesterday you were going to say…”

She explained caringly as she wiped her eyes, “Just… last time I was repainted, they weren’t careful,” she shuffled a bit before her shaky voice remarked, “My human form was too masculine and I had to wait 5 or 6 years before I was comfortable being human again.”

Nellie hugged Zoey, knowing how deeply that must habe hurt her best friend, she soothed, “I’m sorry humans are so awful. I promise no one will do that to you anymore. I won’t let anyone do that to you.”

Zoey hugged her much shorter friend, smiling softly and thanking the small humanoid diesel

“Bless you so much, Nellie. You’re wonderful.”

The oven timer went off, alerting the two that it was preheated.

The humanoid GP30 let go of Nellie and soothed to her, “I also promise to keep you safe. You mean so much to me.”

Zoey silently put the pan with the fries into the oven and set the timer to be able to let them know when it’d be ready. She was thinking about how Nellie would be able to enjoy someone changing her without Nellie’s consent.

The SW1001 could tell something was a little off, but she didn’t ask, only staying in the kitchen with Zoey to help her as best as she could.

To Be Continued


	72. The Spinel Conundrum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is jelly that a cartoon character is forgiven so easily for almost murdering all of humanity.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Ellie the SW7 is a personality residing within me  
> Angie, Star, Lazuli, and Red are my OCs  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on DeviantArt  
> Steven Universe belongs to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network

Zoey's living area was ready; pillows and seating arranged so everyone could see the television, boxes of tissue for when the movie would get too emotional, waffles stacked high, bowls of popcorn and strawberries available too.  
It was finally here, it was finally time for the Steven Universe movie, and all everyone from BUNX plus Angie, Ellie, and Red had arrived to watch it.  
It was a wonderful movie and everyone had a great time... well, almost everyone.

Once the movie was over, Lazuli proclaimed, "That movie was," the happy humanoid diesel was soon interrupted

"AWFUL!" Nellie hissed as she pushed a box of tissue off of the table beside her in an angsty way.

Zoey recalled a suggestion Malcolm had and gently soothed to Nellie, "How come you think it's awful?"

The cat eared girl remarked, "Jeez, Nellie, it wasn't awful. You probably just are grumpy from work."

Ellie exclaimed, "I liked the parts Spinel acted all toony!"

Star was about to speak up when Nellie stated in a louder voice, "How come SHE gets forgiven for nearly killing off humanity but when I do something wrong I get damn near excommunicated from wherever I live or get excommunicated from having friends?"

"Oh lord, here we go..." Lazuli softly whispered before Star helped her head out of the room.

"I'm so pissed off. NO ONE EVER SAID 'WELL GEE NELLIE, YOU DID A BAD, BUT HERE'S SOME NICE FRIENDS TO HELP YOU HEAL' NO ONE EVER DID THAT!"

Angie approached Nellie, much to Zoey's dismay, and she gently remarked, "I know it may be a cartoon, but I can understand why it's upsetting. Just, think of it this way, while you might have been thrown out by some people, you now have us as friends. Spinel isn't so bad..."

Nellie calmed down a bit, yet she sulked a little still, "She's not bad, I just... She just..."

The humanoid GP30 nearly pushed her SD40-2 cousin out of the way as she remarked, trying to sway Nellie, "She reminds you of you back when you were needy and relied heavily on my sister for validation and attention?"

The SW1001 started crying thinking about how awful she had been in the past at that point and hugged Zoey tightly, nearly knocking the wind out of the tall woman.

Angie felt off about Zoey being so eager to help Nellie and swiped the keys off of the table for the station, she had a call to make over the radio.  
She promptly left the industrial building and put on her talisman to allow her to transform into her more powerful form.  
The copperhaired winged woman flew over to the GWWD yard and unlocked the door to the old station and cautiously approached the radio and turned the knobs accordingly until she heard the voice of a different GP30.  
Angie picked up the receiver and spoke into it, "Jackalope? It's me, Angel Wing."

The Esquimalt diesel was taken aback by the voice and stopped switching radioing back, "Oh! Hey Angie, long time no chat. You called at a bad time, can you call back later?"

Angie hurriedly explained, "No, not really, look, I'm worried about Zoey... and about Nellie... can you make sure nothing happens and check in with Nellie?"

Jackie sighed a bit over the radio, she didn't want to do this again, but if Angie was concerned, then there was likely a good reason.  
She answered softly yet sternly, "Alright, Angeline. I'll try to make sure things are okay. Just, if you see or hear anything else, please let me know, alright?"

Angie responded thankfully, "Bless you, I hope you're in good health and that things continue to go alright."

"Thanks, Ang. I'll talk some other time, I have to finish kicking some cars before we watch the SU Movie."

Angie laughed and remarked, "It's fantastic, you'll love it." She ended the call and headed back to Zoey's place, hiding the keys in Zoey's mailbox before flying home to CP for the night.

To Be Continued


	73. Ellie's Hopeful Humour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> After hearing that the E&N squad is forming a singing group to re-record some of the SU Future songs, Ellie wants in so she can be Spinel even if she is a little tone deaf, so she tries to joke about it in hopes that it'll be a 'yes'.  
> Nellie unfortunately tries to help.
> 
> "Hn-nm" is a vocalization of Ellie's honk.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt  
> Ellie the EMD SW7 in all formats belongs to herself as she too is a personality residing within me

Ellie was still over until Sunday evening, when Nellie would make her next call to the E&N to see how Jackie was doing.  
The blue-hued girl eagerly bounced as she stood, eagerly awaiting to maybe talk to her old friends.

Nellie remarked as she looked to her sister who was materially older but mentally younger, "Ellie, it's really important to be careful and not get over excited. That could spell big trouble, but don't worry, big sis is here to help you stay on track."

The bubbly diesel girl laughed, "Train pun!" as she heard a voice come over the radio.

"E&N 5000, You there Nellie?"

The humanoid SW1001 picked up the receiver and responded, "Yeah, and I have a friend with me?"

"Angie?"

The blonde girl sister of Nellie spoke up cheerfully, "Hn-nm! Hi Jackie!"

The first GMD built GP30 responded awkwardly, "Hey Ellie," she wasn't expecting the SW7 to be joining in.

Nellie asked as she sat down beside the radio, "Anywho, so what did you think of the movie?"

"It was the best! I feel so bad for Spinel, like, just... mood."

Nellie didn't respond, she didn't want to say anything about Spinel.

The voice over the radio responded, "Tomorrow, the squad and I are going to rerecord 'Here We Are in the Future' and it'll be about our lives."

Ellie began handspazzing, she wanted so badly to say what was on her mind but bit her tongue for a little bit.

"I bet it'll sound great. You're marvellous at singing," the fox eared girl responded, hoping the conversation would just continue nicely like that.

"Hey, would you guys want to record some Spinel songs?" Ellie interrupted, "Just a funny thought, nothing serious though."

Jackie nervously laughed and responded in a serious tone, "Not really, Ellie. Sorry to burst your bubble."

Her aqua blue eyes looked down at the table before asking to the radio, this time sounding less cheery, "C-could I come visit sometime? Maybe see J..."

The diesel on the other end of the call remarked, "Ellie..."

Nellie remarked with a laugh, "She might try to break into BC since she's just down in Washington during the daytime. But at night she's over in the UK, or is it day there?"

Ellie remarked with a giggle, "I can see it now! TLETC 3: Ellie Breaks Into Canada!"

Jackie began feeling a little uncomfortable with the two sisters joking like this and she decided to stop being so calm, "You two shouldn't joke about this, you were thrown out for a reason. Okay? Alright, anyways I'm sorry, I've gotta go. We have to practice."  
The call ended.

Nellie got sulky and went to the sofa to be grumpy.

A voice cackled over the radio, the voice that liked to torment Nellie, "Well, well, well. Looks like you two screwed up again. Just watch, you two will be VERY sorry for upsetting Jackie."

Ellie unplugged the radio and huffed annoyedly, "She's still trying to torment us?! That's awful!"

A portal opened in the station.

The blue humanoid diesel sighed as she picked up her bag, "Sorry, sis, gotta go. I'll see you another weekend."

The SW1001 waved silently to her sister whom then went into the portal before it shut.  
Nellie was now alone with her thoughts... and that often wasn't a good thing.

To Be Continued


	74. That Wasn't Very Wise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Red shows up to get information from Nellie, only to inadvertently cause a rift between the two radio acquaintances.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart  
> Red the MLW RS23 is my OC

Nellie didn't bother even thinking of going back to Zoey's after the call incident, she felt like she needed to punish herself by being all alone. She laid upon the couch she used to sleep on for maybe all of an hour without interruption.

There was a knock on the old station door.

Nellie glanced over at the clock, she thought to herself, "Who the actual fuck would be showing up at 10 at night to the office. "

It was Red.  
They asked worriedly, "I saw the light on, everything alright?"

Nellie let the floodgates open, explaining as she tried not to cry, "So Ellie and I were talking to Jackie, and I let myself get too hyper and silly. I upset her. I upset her because I didn't stop Ellie. It's going to all happen again! I opened up and was too weird and now all the good things in life are going away! The glass chandelier is about to fall!"

The humanoid RS23 was baffled by this, and began to try to pry for more details, "Oh? Care to explain more?"

"I need to be more normal. Like oatmeal without cinnamon, THEN maybe I won't screw up friendships."

The MLW felt that they were only getting one side of the story, they remarked, "And this is Jackie you were talking about?"

"Yeah, why?" The fox eared girl asked.

Red responded, "It's alright, just wanted some context. Anyways, you should be more cautious, it's not very wise to let your emotions run rampant. Anyways... Sleep well, Nell."  
The bovid-humanoid diesel turned and headed out of the station before turning human and radioing to Jackie, inquiring if all of what Nellie said was true, not realizing that this would impact the little switcher severely.

The SW1001 plugged back in the radio, not caring if Beezel would verbally torment her tonight, and laid down on the sofa once more.

To Be Continued


	75. Glass Chandeliers and Radios

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie discovers the consequences of her actions... or rather words at 1AM
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantart  
> Red the MLW RS23 is my OC

A voice stirred Nellie awake, "Joliet!"

The humanoid SW1001 fell off the station's sofa as she was shocked awake by the yelling of her last name.  
She looked over at the radio as she stood up, trying to comprehend what was going on.

It was 1 AM and things were about to get rather rocky.

"Sorry for yelling, anyways... Alright, so what's this I am hearing about you saying about boring oatmeal and chandeliers crashing?" The voice of a GP30 remarked, not sounding very amused.

Nellie scrambled to the radio, fox ears pointing downwards out of panic. She picked up the receiver and responded, "I don't understand..."

"Really now, you've forgotten your paranoid conversation with Red? That's funny, seems like something old you would do." the voice stated with unamused curiosity.

Nellie pleaded as she explained, "No, no, it's not like that Jackie. I just meant I should've kept Ellie in line and I shouldn't have encouraged her. Please don't be angry."

"Glass chandelier?"

Nellie sighed, "I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I was wound up and upset."

The GP30 sighed, she was tired because it was late and because she had to do this at 11PM her time.  
"I need to be real with you, Nellie..." the GMD diesel radioed at first in a gentle voice, but getting more stern as she spoke, "You're too eager, you're a chatterbox at the worst of times, you're essentially the definition of a rent-a-wreck, and to top it all off you allowed your sister to be dead set on trying to barge her way back to the E&N when she's explicitly banned along side you, it's time you stop calling me on your own accord if you're going to slip up and get upset like a factory-fresh. If you need something that's fine, just please stop bothering me."

Nellie exhaled, she knew she wouldn't win with explaining herself. Her she spoke in a tone, conveying she was surrendering, "I'm sorry, Jackie, for not thinking and ruining everything again. I'll see you in the next life..."  
The SW1001 explained with a stammer, "N-not going to kill myself... j-just I don't want t-to say bye forever."

Jackie sighed and hung up the call.

Nellie looked at the clock and decided to trudge to Zoey's house and maybe try to combat her upset feelings with some icecream.

To Be Continued


	76. Zoey's Brand of 'Branding'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey decides to take advantage of the fact that Nellie is emotionally distraught, in hopes that they will become a couple.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on DeviantArt  
> Red the MLW RS23 is my OC  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me

The industrial home was quiet; Zoey was sleeping soundly when her sleep was broken by the sound of the door opening.  
She figured it was Nellie finally getting home from chatting with her sister, until she heard the sound of sobbing and the fridge door opening.  
“Oh no, what happened?” Zoey thought to herself as she got out of bed, putting on her day clothes to make it seem like she waited up for Nellie out of concern.

The humanoid SW1001 was looking through the freezer for the chocolate frozen yogurt, she needed something to quell her emotions enough that she could sleep, even if she’d just have nightmares.

The second and last build GP30 approached her best friend and asked worriedly, ”What’s wrong Nellie? How come you’re crying?”

The fox eared girl sat down at the table in defeat after not being able to find what she was looking for in the fridge. She looked at Zoey with her greyish blue eyes, they looked almost dead with sorrow, “I was called a rent-a-wreck.”

Zoey went to the fridge and got out some BC cherries, her tone changing to sound angry, "Who called you that? I'll punch their fucking lights out, was it Tracy?"

“Your sister…”

Zoey was caught off guard. While she did have a mechsuit to fly to BC and kick her sister’s butt, that would be a REALLY bad idea, considering Jackie was the stronger diesel due to some upgrade repairs while Zoey was only more agile. She decided sat next to her best friend, not saying anything until she thought for a bit.  
"Hey, no... I mean you might be a rental, and you might be a little battered, but..." the brown eyed girl didn’t know how to finish her statement and silently slid over the bowl of cherries, hoping that would help.

"That's not really helping me, Zoe..." Nellie admitted, her ears pointing somehow more downward. She sighed, “That just proves you think as lowly of me as your sister does… Like, I’m sorry I encouraged Ellie, and I’m sorry I got upset for me doing something wrong, but it hurts I’m being punished for feeling bad about it.”  
The ginger began crying uncontrollably as she admitted, her voice trembling alike her human body, “I don’t even know what I need or want any more. My life is a mess. I CONSTANTLY want to die, every working day is Hell.”

Zoey hugged Nellie and patted her on the back soothingly, while part of her mind was wondering what she could do to make Nellie feel better; this was her chance to imprint on Nellie, to cause Nellie to fall for her. This would be it!  
The brown eyed woman soothed, “No, no... I didn't mean it that way... Shhh...There, there, Nell, let it out. I’m so sorry my older sister is so cold.”

Nellie sobbed into Zoey’s blue shirt.

The humanoid GP30 gently nudged her nose against Nellie’s nose when Nellie looked up from crying, she quelled gently, “I’m here. I promise, Nellie. I’m not going anywhere, nor will you. We can stay alive together.”

The SW1001 was confused by this statement but she appreciated that Zoey was going to try to help her not feel like dying.

Zoey took Nellie’s hand gently and asked, “Do you want me to stay in the chair in your room tonight, just in case you need me?”

Nellie, too upset to think about the dangers of having Zoey that close nodded, she was upset and far too trusting.

The two headed to Nellie's bedroom, where Zoey sat in the recliner in the room, Nellie settled into the bed. She looked over to Zoey and sniffled, "What happens if I have a nightmare?”

“I’ll be right here to keep you safe, and tomorrow we can distract you from those bad feelings, and CN100 is coming up,” the brunette soothed, pulling a spare throw blanket onto her so she would be able to sleep more comfortably.

The ginger settled under the soft blanket with her favourite plush rabbit doll, thankful that someone actually cared and that she might be alright, even if she upset Jackie and she felt that she couldn’t trust Red.

To Be Continued


	77. The CN Centennial Celebration Letdown part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> A special episode because a little less than a month ago I missed out on CN's biggest party because it was too much, and I was upset by the fact that I missed out.  
> So here's the first chapter of it.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on deviantArt  
> Red is my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Ellie the EMD SW7 in all formats belongs to herself as she too is a personality residing within me
> 
> "Hn-nm" is the vocalization of Ellie's honk. When Ellie is happy she typically makes this sound.

It had rained and poured all Saturday long, quashing the possibility of Nellie going to the CN festivities, and now it was Sunday the 15th of September. She, Ellie, Zoey and Red were going to there, all excited, all happy, ready for the positivity Nellie thought the day would bring.

The four waited in the van for a train pulled by Mackswell to pass through the yard near the mushroom plant, alas, Nellie's hopes began to crash.

"There's a LOT of 13s on the train cars...." Nellie sighed worriedly, she fidgeted with her seat belt anxiously

Red scoffed as they looked back from the front passenger's seat, "Well, stop looking at them, Nellie! Jeez, it's that simple."

Zoey intervened as she switched from keeping her foot on the break to putting the van in park, "Nellie's Triskaidekaphobia isn't just her being superstitious, so even if she stops looking at it, something bad will happen to her still."

Ellie was too busy on her blue iphone 5c texting with Duncan about how excited she was. She wasn't paying attention at all.

Once the train passed, the 4 were on their way again, heading to the Forks so they could be a part of CN's 100th year celebration.

Upon arriving there, Zoey and Red stayed back to figure out the parking meter as Nellie and Ellie bolted across the street excitedly.

A CN worker stood by the side entrance, greeting them politely, "Hello there, and welcome to the festivities. I presume you have your CN Work ID with you?"

Nellie smiled and remarked as she reached into her pocket, "Of course, dear sir, it's right here," she passed him out an ID card hoping to get in.

The worker's brow furrowed, he remarked with a embarrassed laugh, "I'm sorry miss, but this says BUNX."

Ellie, meanwhile interrupted as her sister began to panic, remarking in her normal cheery tone, "That stinks a bit. We really like trains. In fact! We are diesels ourselves. Unfortunately I'm not CN, I used to work for Atlanta Coast Lines, and then I worked for Peavey and now I'm on preservation, but today is one of my days off to come see my sister. She works in the practice yards on Pandora!"

Nellie took the card back and looked before frantically checking her pockets for her old CN card. She eventually gave up.

The man stated, "Well that's very interesting, miss. Also, I'm sorry, young ladies but you'll have to come back at noon."

The two girls walked back across the street to their other two friends who had just finished fighting with the parking meter which refused to take loonies from 2007, 2013, and 2015.

"Well, any luck?" Red asked curiously.

Nellie sighed and shook her head no. She remarked, "If I had my CN badge we could've gotten in now...."

The bespectacled brunette hugged Nellie tightly and patted her on the head soothingly remarking, "There there, we can do something else while we wait."

Ellie exclaimed cheerfully, "I know what we can do!!!! Let's go see Countess and Uncle Greg and see if Operation Lifesaver has some free goodies!"

"That sounds like a great plan, Ell," Red remarked as they lead the way for the others towards the railway station. The bassy GP40As roaring on the platform above, awaiting their long run to Churchill which had been restored merely a year ago.

Zoey commended as she heard the beautiful sound, "Remember a year ago, Nellie, when you helped Ellie with a fundraiser for this run and you took a break from being in BC to help collect up nonperishables for Churchill?"

The blue skinned girl bubbled with excitement, "Hn-nm! Yes! It was super fun and great and we even got them canned milk and peanut butter!~ Because dairy and protein are important too!"

Nellie laughed, walking ahead of the group, almost breaking into a sprint to the doors of the station, excitedly remembering when before she was bought that she met up here for when she was picked up, but slowed to a hault, remembering the week prior. Her insides burned a bit with anger as she stopped at the foot of an escalator, looking up and remembering the other GMD GP30 coming down to come pick up Nellie 2 years back.

Zoey placed her hand gently on Nellie's shoulder and remarked, "It's ok, you don't have to worry about then anymore. Come along. Let's go see the museum."

Red scoffed and they remarked, "Well it WAS your fault Nellie, you got 'too emotional and attached' which were the words that made her block your radio IDs."

Nellie hissed at Red, her ears pointing downward in anger, "I MEANT I GOT TOO COMFORTABLE AND WAS TOO MUCH OF MYSELF..." the fox-like girl calmed down with a breath and remarked, "It's ok though, it was my fault I didn't stop Ellie and myself and I'm a bit salty, but things happen for a reason and this could be a good thing."

Ellie remarked apologetically, "I'm sorry I took over the radio call and asked impossible things which upset her, though sis..."

Nellie and Ellie hugged it out.

After Nellie calmed down from nearly getting emotionally overwhelmed, the 4 walked to the museum door and pulled it open.

The musky scent of old varnished oak, steam oil, warmed fluorescent tube lights and the remnants of rain was in the air as the 4 humanoid diesels climbed up the stair case arriving upon the former platforms 1 and 2.

Ellie jumped up and down and exclaimed joyously, "WE'RE HERE! WE'RE HERE!"

They signed in all as Zoey dropped a $20 into the donation box, while the admission today was technically free, she felt obliged to leave something for the museum.

The museum entrance clerk greeted them over by the gift shop and welcomingly trilled, "Good morning, Railfans. Welcome to the final day of railway days."

Nellie asked curiously, while Ellie stared curiously into the model railway room, "Is Operation Lifesaver here, and is the Via Train available to be seen?"

The clerk remarked apologetically, "I'm deeply sorry, but today the train goes to Churchill, and CN's Lifesaver division was here only for yesterday. So I'm sorry for that, but I hope you enjoy the visit regardless."

The blonde humanoid diesel's eyes gazed upon a tiny GP30 in the room with the number 5000 decked out in action red peppermint stripe and a multimark. She softly muttered, "That's my old diesel senpai."

Red darted over and took a picture with their phone, messaging it to Jackie remarking, "This is totally going to the other GP30. Perfect coincidence!"

Zoey came over and looked with a scoff remarking, "I'm the better GP30 made by GMD anyways..."

Ellie tugged on Zoey's shirt and asked, "Diesel Senpai? What do you mean by that?"

The brunette's nose twitched contently and she remarked with a proud smile, "Well, you see, Ellie. GMD made only two of my kind. Me and Jackie. GMD had some lack of proper parts though for building us, so we accidentally were given the overbite because the American ones were deemed to have 'big mouths'."

"That means they talked a lot of cow dung right?"

Zoey chuckled and answered, "Right on, little blue. Now you see, GMD ran out of the proper canines for me, so I got some sharper ones, so I look pretty cool. My sister also has a more square face frame, but mine is rounded at the top. She has one head lamp with two bulbs, and I have two in the corner above my face too."

Red interjected, "But Zoey, you don't have an ass light."

Ellie looked blankly, curious if this was true.

"While that may be true, I have backing ditch lights and typically work only in day light, so I don't need them."

Nellie giggled at how Zoey was so perfect at answering her little sister's questions.

"Diesel Senpai Zoey? When you were a little diesel, what did you wanna be?" the blue freckled girl giggled curiously as she sat on a display travel trunk, curious to hear what Zoey had to say.

Zoey smiled and remarked, "The best switcher that CP ever had. And believe you me, Ell, I was one of the fastest and strongest Geeps CP ever saw in my day, in fact, if we were to head to Arlington now, you'd see the emblem that they put up under the bridge for me."

Red laughed as they corrected, "And there's that 'cow dung' talk.."

Nellie replied, "No, there is an emblem. But I think that it's dedicated to both the sisters. Sorry Zoe..."

Zoey laughed and remarked, "True, true. One to 'the jackalope' one to 'the rabbit'."

The two continued down the path until their eyes gazed upon the large sleeping 4-4-0 in shiny black paint, The Countess of Dufferin

To Be Continued


	78. The CN Centennial Celebration Letdown part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Jackie the GP30 belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo  
> Red is my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Ellie the EMD SW7 in all formats belongs to herself as she too is a personality residing within me  
> the Countess of Dufferin belongs to the City of Winnipeg, so she's not really my OC  
> Greg the GMD1 is my OC  
> The aforementioned GMD1 from NAR belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo
> 
> "Hn-nm" is the vocalization of Ellie's honk. When Ellie is happy she typically makes this sound.

Countess stirred awake greeting with a warm smile to the four humanoid diesels, "Good morning."

Ellie hopped up cartoonishly upon Countess's cowcatcher and sat before her smokebox door looking up at the funnel faced engine. The blue hued blonde girl smiled as she greeted, "Hn-nm! Hi Countess! It's been a while, huh?"

"Why yes it has, Ellie. How's my sister doing?" The grand old 4-4-0 answered kindly, her voice very kind and motherly.

Nellie stated sternly, "Ellie! You might get in trouble!"

"Now, now, it's alright. If anyone asks, then I told you to come up here, Ellie." she corrected the SW1001 before looking back to her humanoid former co-worker.

"Well, my Aunt Lucy is doing really good. She planted a garden this year and all the flowers were purple, but she planted a plant for me! She got a botanist to grow the marshmallow flower and put blue dye in the soil to make them come up blue just for me." the humanoid SW7 rambled on proudly, "And Tillie has been clean of whipped cream AND cool whip for a whole year now! Uncle Farnsworth and I went in our human forms to an art gallery. It was kind of boring at some parts. Apparently a white circle on a white canvas is supposed to be art."

Countess laughed softly and remarked, "Don't ever change, Ellie."

Zoey admired Countess' brasswork and asked, "Countess, when were you built?"

Countess turned her funnel slightly to look back at the brunette and asked, "Gosh, let me think..." the 4-4-0 quietly did some calculations before responding, "1872"

Ellie exclaimed eagerly, "WOWIE! That's a long time! And you even saved Tillie ages ago when you went on an adventure out west!"

"Indeed I did, Ellie."

Red was disinterested, while they did work along side SOME steam in their day, they wished there was more Montreal Locomotive Works recognition. They trotted away on their bovine like legs to look at some photographs framed on the walls.

Zoey approached the cab of Countess and asked to the beautiful steam engine, "May I ring your bell?"

Countess smiled and remarked, "Every kid who shows up to the museum does. Ring it loud, Zoey!"

Zoey took a hold of the rope and pulled it, letting the beautiful polished bell of the nearly 150 year old steam engine ring proudly.

Countess laughed and responded as she pretended, "All aboard! Next stop, Grand Forks!"

Ellie threw her hands up excitedly as she giggled back, "That's my old home!"

"Hey, is that my sister's little one I hear?" A voice echoed from beside Countess.

Ellie hopped off of Countess and softly remarked, "Thanks for catching up, Auntie Countess, I'm gonna go talk to my Uncle Greg now." She then bolted around the platform to the otherside and looked up at the impressive green and yellow GMD1. She cheerfully climbed up his pilot ignoring the 'do not climb' sign and greeted excitedly, "HN-NM! Hi Uncle Greg! I haven't seen you since last summer!"

The old station switcher looked down at his blue niece and greeted friendily, "I'm glad to see you too. You never seem to be gloomy when I see you, Ellie, that's just how Tamara was, but not so hyper."

Ellie's eyes twinkled at mention of her mom, she exclaimed proudly, "I told mommy when I saw her in the dreamscape that I was coming here to see you. She's happy I know my Canadian Uncle."

Ellie asked, "So, Uncle Greg," as she looked at an empty table on the platform beside him, "Did we miss Operation Life Saver or will they be back tomorrow?"

The GMD1 remarked, his old blue eyes truthful as his words, "Sadly yes, but, I did ask them to leave me with these." He glanced upwards, encouraging Ellie to look up to his number board, seeing taped to them were some postcards. This made the little blue humanoid diesel happy. She grabbed them before giving her Uncle a hug. 

Ellie sat down again as her friends and sister approached.

Zoey approached the two who were talking, looking up at the GMD1 and curiously asked, "Hey Greg? You happen to know any other GMD1s elsewhere in Canada?"

"I'm guessing you mean the old mentor of your sister... or rather... dementor." Greg remarked grimly and then cringed thinking of the NAR diesel he once knew who was always angry about something with exhausts that plumed like he was smoking a pipe continuously.

The brunette took a spot sitting down on Greg's ladder and responded, "I'm sure as shit glad I only met him once and then never again, thankfully."

"He once yelled over a video chat at Aunt Lucy. What a rude guy!" Ellie retorted grumpily, remembering that day.

Red joined the conversation as they walked closer, "This guy sounds like Neil from the GWWD yard"

Nellie wanted to say something but she kept her mouth shut about the NAR diesel they all spoke of, she remembered a time she encountered him, during which the other diesels at her railway all blocked him onto the rail slip to prevent him from getting anywhere near the first GMD GP30. She remembered that day well, and how after the altercation how her paint began to flake out of anxiety in case something bad like that may happen again. 

Ellie answered anyways for her sister, "Yeah, we had to keep him locked out once because he was angry his parts diesel was alive and well and running around with a multimark on. Nellie couldn't sleep for weeks after that and her..."

Nellie interrupted, "Ellie that's a sensitive topic for me.."

Zoey gently reminded to her kohai, "Please be respectful of your sister, Ell. Nellie's very sensitive about her really nice paint work."

This caused the fox eared girl to cover her face in embarrassment a bit, albeit a cover for her repressed feelings. It REALLY didn't help when Zoey would throw, what Zoey called, a true compliment at the SW1001 out of no where just to get the reaction."

Red interjected, "Pfft, but probably neither of you have ever got to t.... hey... where'd Nellie go?" They looked around and noticed Nellie was missing.

"I think I saw her walk away. I'll go check on her," Zoey answered before she hopped down and went to go find her best friend and coworker.

Ellie responded to her Canadian Uncle, "Thanks for the chat, Uncle Greg.. but I have to go to the little diesel's room now."

Red responded in an icked out way, "TMI, Ellie!"

At the bottom of the stairway to the museum, Nellie sat, feeling like a bit of an outsider.

Zoey approached Nellie and sat down beside her on the stairs, softly quelling, "Nellie, I am sorry I said that about your paint, but you know it's true. It looks really beautiful."

"That's not it, Zoe... Ellie brought up a sensitive set of memories..." the ginger haired girl answered, her voice trembling with insecurity, "How paranoid I became, how I began giving up my fuel rations in case your sister needed them in case she needed to rush away in the middle of the night to escape. How I would sleep very little and sit outside the roundhouse unnecessarily guarding the turntable in case of an attack. I was so paranoid and became so much clingier and more protective that it made your sister down right sick of me... and then I gave her my decals after she helped repaint me to mend my flaking paint.... that REALLY made her uncomfortable..." Nellie sunk down more somehow and responded, "I was so awful..."

Zoey soothed, placing her hand on Nellie's back, responding, "I think it's time for a trademark Zoey pep-talk."

The fox eared girl sighed and began listening.

"The fact that you feel bad for all these things show that you aren't as awful as you feel you are. You're learning from your mistakes. But you're still haunted by a past you wish you could fix but you can't."

Nellie responded bitterly, "Where's the part where you build up my self esteem, can we skip to that part? You're killing me, Carrots..."

Zoey responded gently, "I know it's hard to let go when you still feel haunted, but think of it this way, Nellie... You are now one of the most talked about diesels. You have new friends now. You're home where things are familiar, you've got me..." she looked Nellie in the eyes caringly as she continued, "What I'm getting at is, while things may have turned out catastrophic at first, things are turning around now. You're healing and growing from your mistakes." Zoey stood up as she stated, "I'll talk to Ellie later about not bringing up such a sensitive topic, alright?"

Nellie nodded and was about to stand up when suddenly,

Ellie rushed by hurrying down the stairs, out the door and into the rotunda of the station. 

Zoey aided Nellie to stand up as she remarked, "That's a little odd.."

The two girls decided to let Red and Ellie finish their walk about of the museum. 

Nellie and Zoey walked to the main doors of the station.

"Where are we going, Zoe? I thought we were going to rejoin the others?"

"We can and will later... right now I want to teach you something. It might help in the healing process in helping you put the past behind you."

Once outside, the two girls crossed the street and headed down Broadway, looking up at the buildings. 

Nellie looked upward after they crossed the street, seeing a large imposing building with Victorian style architecture and a large beautiful green roof. She stammered, "That's her castle! What the hell, Zoe!? You know I can't go there without feeling sad."

Zoey stopped Nellie sternly in her tracks, making stern eye contact with the humanoid SW1001 as she huffed, "Have you ever BEEN in there with my sister?"

"W-well, n-no... but"

Zoey interjected, "But nothing. You were going to if you and her made it to three years together... but you've never been in there."

Nellie quietly obliged and followed Zoey up the large marble stairs of the very much castlesque Hotel Fort Garry. 

The two entered the lobby, it was far more beautiful than Nellie imagined ever. The white and black marble floor reflected almost everything as it was polished to the nth degree. Just beyond the varnished redwood check in desk, and across from the gorgeously vintage elevators that had the old dial with numbers that lit up, were two victorian era couches. The couches' gorgeous red velvet seat beckoned the girls to sit down a moment to draw in everything.

Nellie was the first to sit down, placing her hands upon the seat as she sat down. She excitedly exclaimed to her best friend, "Zoe! You need to sit on this! It's remarkable! Also... just feel the material."

The girl with the rabbit like nose gently ran her finger tips over the fabric, marveling at the softness and smoothness. It was akin to the fur Zoey had on her hands, before she'd shave it off to try to hide the fact that she was further along in corruption. The brunette's eyes gazed into a round room just behind them, a lovely and gorgeous lounge brought to mind something out of a Disney Princess Film. The walls were adorned with all kinds of beveling and long elegant red curtains.

Nellie took notice of where Zoey was looking and stood up, walking briskly towards the room, excited by how beautiful it was. She softly remarked to herself, "Am I in heaven? This architecture is a dream come true!" She turned herself around upon entering the room, looking in all directions before she noticed a human sitting there, laughing at how Nellie was so in awe.

"You have good taste in architecture, kid." the lady greeted, she was an employee on a break, drinking a mug of coffee.

The ginger excitedly remarked, tickled pink by one of her special interests, "It's like something out of a fairytale, or a Disney movie! Oh gracious! What is it like to work here?"

The woman responded to the curious girl's question, "Well, while the building is very beautiful, it is also very old. It has a few ghosts, some malevolent, some unsettling, some just there not meaning any malice. So if you stay here, it's not for the faint of heart."

Nellie's intrigue fluttered, she wanted to stay here.. just maybe not today. She was approached by Zoey, as well as Red and Ellie who followed them there after the museum. 

Ellie stared at the circular room and exclaimed, "Pretty room! I like it!"

Red remarked, "Ghosts, huh? Well, I can handle that. Easy as cake!"

Zoey patted Nellie on the back to indicate they were going to go look at another area of the main floor.

"Thanks for chatting, nice lady!" Nellie stated kindly before she followed her friends down a hallway just to the left of the round room.

Zoey whispered to Nellie while Ellie was chatting with Red, "It's alright Nellie, don't show hesitation to like it." 

The four approached a beautiful artwork in an archway above a flight of marble stairs. Zoey remarked jokingly, "This would be a perfect spot, if I had this as a castle, to paint a picture of me riding a white tiger with the skulls of my enemies dotting the background with a flaming rainbow behind.

Ellie giggled, responding, "Oh come on, Zoe, You know you'd instead have a picture of you and my sister made. You two are the bestest of pals and you wouldn't leave her out of the equation, right?"

Red laughed a bit at this proposition, they snarkily remarked, "So, they're gay then?"

"Not every two gals who are pals are gay, Red... that's not how it works,"

Nellie stared at the art, imagining what her sister had suggested. She remembered when she drew herself as a princess ages ago, smiling imaging an artwork of her and Zoey on perhaps the back of a rainbow unicorn amongst a wheatfield at sunset. She smiled thinking about how cool that would work, softly saying to herself outloud, "Non-MLP unicorns are amazing and I wish they were real."

Everyone stared at Nellie like, 'girl wtf, we ain't talking 'bout unicorns', but Nellie didn't acknowledge it, her mind drifted off in thought to the idea of unicorns and how amazing they were.

"Nell, we're about to go check out the little sundries shop around the corner, you coming with?" The bovine like non-binary being asked to the fox-eared girl.

Nellie nodded and followed her friends along.

The shop was small and a tad cramped for the 4, but it was quaint. All the shelves looked like they were from the turn of the century but yet well maintained. 

Ellie wandered to the end of the shop and down some stairs to a little snack room, looking at how it was set up like a 50's malt shoppe almost. Ellie's hand's twitched as she gazed upon it. She exclaimed, "HN-NM! This down here is super cool! Nellie, we should stay here sometime, ya know, us 4! The squad!"

Nellie internally thought about how nice it would be to stay here with just Zoey. They could go swimming in the pool on the 10th floor. They could go to the elegant hallway Nellie was once in for her CN evaluation where she almost got promoted to working instead at the VIA station as coach switcher leased to VIA. They could have complimentary muffins and morning tea together and look out the window to the entirety of Zoey's pretend regal land, and then she realized she had a crush on Zoey. Nellie went paler than normal at this feeling.

Zoey gently placed her hand on her best friend's shoulder and soothed, "Nellie, are you okay?"

Nellie distracted herself by looking at a rack of postcards, trying to repress the sudden wave of emotion she felt for her dispatcher and best friend. She stammered with an anxious laugh, "N-nothing. I'm fine."

Red rolled their eyes and went outside of the shop, disinterested in it.

Ellie ended up getting some post cards Nellie bought, and the 4 were on the move again.

Now to the back parking lot where they saw, upon the building behind the hotel, lovely statues of men and women in togas.

Zoey's nose twitched as she gazed at the lady statues while Nellie blurted out what was on her mind upon seeing one holding a book and a staff, "Gorgeous hot oracle chick... I wish she was real. I'd ask her out."

"That's gay as notch, Nell, like how can you be 'ace' if you literally drool over statue chicks?" the bovine-like RS23 inquired, not impressed that Nellie was a liar.

Zoey hushed to Red, "Come on... you don't have to be so mean... let her daydream a while."

Nellie stared at one statue of a toga-clad woman with ringlet like hair holding a bouquet of roses. Nellie stared at it, her eyes fixated longingly, wishing the statue would say something to her. But as we all know, statues aren't alive. She looked away from the elegant Roman statue lady and looked at Zoey, her mind jumping to Zoey adorned with a laurel while wearing a toga. Nellie rubbed her eyes a bit and the thought was gone.

"You alright Nellie? You keep looking at me funny." The brunette worriedly inquired, reaching out a gloved hand to try to sooth her friend.

Nellie abruptly stated, "Oh, just... I'm getting kind of hungry now.. can we walk back to the Forks and go have some lunch?"

Ellie vocally honked before she excitedly cheered, "Let's go to Spaghetti Factory! I love going there!"

Zoey shrugged and laughed as she proclaimed in a pretend royal voice, "As Queen, I proclaim that we do as court cheer-bringer Ellie suggests!"

Nellie stopped dead in her tracks from walking away as she saw a spire at the back of the hotel, with bars on the window. 

"Hey, Nell, want us to throw you in there and we'd have to climb up your braid to get to you?" Red joked.

The ginger hugged her braid and huffed in anger, "No, because 1, it's not long enough, and 2, no thanks it's off limits!" She walked ahead of everyone else, down the side ramp of the building, annoyed with Red's sense of humour. 

Ellie blinked a bit and then remarked, "Nellie also used to be called Rapunzel once upon a time..."

"Good pun, Ellie!" Red remarked

"huh?" the blonde girl remarked as she followed Red who followed Nellie a few metres back.

Zoey ran down the ramp she was closer to, trying to catch up to Nellie who was now by the front doors of the hotel. The brunette soothed, "I'm really sorry if Red is bringing up some old stuff. I think they're trying to make light of what happened, ya know?"

"I know... but I'm not ready to joke yet... I'm still a little angry..." Nellie sighed, still hugging her braid.

Zoey gently encouraged Nellie's hands down. The humanoid GP30's nose twitched a little as she remarked, "Don't cover it up. Let your copper like beauty shine."

Nellie covered her face and let out a tiny muffled scream before asking, still muffledly, "Why are you being so nice to me? It feels like you're flirting!"

Zoey made Nellie come to a stop, they sat down on a concrete planter in front of the castlesque building before she gently coaxed Nellie's hands down. She quelled, "Nellie... I'm trying to be gentle and encouraging... While you know I do have a crush on you, I'm not flirting because I know you don't feel the same way." she gently placed her hands on her best friend's and soothed, "I don't want to stop being nice because I don't want to accidentally hurt you with not caring." 

The ginger averted her greyish blue eyes feeling a bit embarrassed she was being talked to like this.

Zoey continued, "You're going through a lot, Nellie. Let me be here to try to help heal some of the hurt."

The ginger gave in and nodded, accepting Zoey's offer as the other two caught up to Nellie.

"Thanks for catching her, Zoey Senpai!" Ellie said as her hands twitched with joy.

Zoey remarked, "It's ok, Nellie just needed a breather for a minute."

The two girls stood up and resumed walking back to the Forks with Red and Ellie, onward to get to have some fresh bread.

To Be Continued


	79. The CN Centennial Celebration Letdown part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> I missed out on CN's biggest party because it was too much, and I was upset by the fact that I missed out.  
> So here's part 3, Nellie gets overwhelmed and feels like she's letting her friends down. Zoey gives Nellie a pep-talk and just as they're about to head back to get Red and Ellie, Ellie gets disappointed and comes up the hill to sulk. The 4 end up heading to the Halloween Store.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Red is my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Ellie the EMD SW7 in all formats belongs to herself as she too is a personality residing within me  
> CN belongs to CN  
> Spirit of Halloween belongs to Spencers Gifts
> 
> "Hn-nm" is the vocalization of Ellie's honk. When Ellie is happy she typically makes this sound.

All during lunch, the two sister humanoid-diesels watched as a miniature train pulled little open coaches with people riding in it. Ellie wanted so badly to ride the mini-train. Glancing over towards the path it was using and handspazzing when she saw it go by.

Nellie also wanted to see it, just to see how well non-train-informed humans would redesign a strong ATV into a mock-SD unit.  
Zoey looked at the two and giggled a bit as she sipped her iced tea, “You two are two of the same batch, you know, despite the 10 year material age gap.”

Ellie responded, her sweet voice full of awe, “I wanna see the tiny diesel. Do you think they’re alive like us?”

“My bet is that probably no human would use the same mix of metals used for us to make a pretend train. The mix of metals is what gives us life.” Red remarked as they pushed the plate of shrimp fettuccini away from them since the bovine like humanoid was now full.

Nellie softly remarked as she fidgeted with her paper straw, “I just want to know if that pretend diesel can honk. If it doesn’t then I’ll be very disappointed.”

The blue-skinned girl doodled on the back of a safety brochure from the railway museum, trying to draw her sister’s true form before crumpling it up as she sighed, “Anatomy’s off…”

After lunch, the group of 4 friends wandered over to the CN Centennial Celebration grounds behind the skate park.

Nellie was so excited and was fighting the urge to skip along the gravel stone path like her sister was doing cartoonishly.

Zoey hung back a bit with her favourite vixen-like diesel. She happily remarked, “Well, now you get to go to the CN celebration. I bet you’re bubbling with excitement, Nel.”

The ginger giggled excitedly as she began walking a bit faster, “Oh! It’ll be super! It’ll be so much fun! I’ll get to talk to people who like trains, as well as other CN diesels who travel with the celebration!”

However once they got around the bend, they saw the gates; there was a slight line to get in.

Zoey got a feeling in her gut that her favourite switcher would be let down. The bespectacled girl remarked, “Nellie… if it’s not what you expect, we can go elsewhere instead.”

Nellie wasn’t there anymore; she was already ahead of her friends, waiting in the line eagerly. The ginger girl was nearly bouncing as she spoke to the greeter man dressed as a CN conductor from the 1950s.

The bearded man friendily greeted, “Hello there, young lady! Do you like trains?”

Nellie nodded her fox ears perked up joyfully. She answered happily, “In fact I AM a diesel! Where do you work I haven’t seen you around the Transcona Shops before.”

He remarked out of character politely to the girl after making sure no children were in earshot, “I’m from Public Relations. I mostly just do this to help tell the history of CN over the last century.”

Nellie tried not to show some disappointment, she remarked, “That’s really great. It’s good to meet you.”

As the ginger walked through the entrance made of sea cans, her ears pointed back as her blue-ish grey eyes drew in a discouraging sight.

There was the CN Centennial Celebration, in all its zebra stripe and red glory. The festival was as well decorated with the muddy grounds, boggy grass, hundreds of crowds, and the sun beating down on the grounds.

Nellie started hyperventilating a bit as her friends had caught up with her. She walked in and felt her pulse instantaneously raise, causing the humanoid switcher to start to have a pounding headache.

“Nell?” the brunette softly inquired.

Nellie stared at all the line ups for each of the areas of the festivities. Her heart sunk. It was increasingly overwhelming to the 5’3” ginger. She took in a deep breath and bolted out the other side of the entrance, going over to the little hill a little ways away.

Zoey turned to Ellie and Red and pleaded to the bovine like humanoid diesel, “Red, stay here with Ellie. Please. I have to go help my fox.”

Red raised an eyebrow as they remarked, “She’s not yours though…”

Zoey glared intensely at Red, she sternly muttered, “Look, I care about her more than life itself… I feel like I was destined to make BUNX to pick up her broken pieces and help her heal…” the brown eyed brunette cooled down and then looked to the little blue skinned girl who looked back with her big blue sparking eyes. She iterated gently as if to a kid, “Zoey-senpai will be back shortly. I’ll see what your sister wants to do, and either we can stay here or go to the Halloween Store.”

Ellie’s eyes lit up at the mention of Halloween. She smiled and nodded, this confirmation gave Zoey permission to head on her way to help lull the humanoid SW1001.

Zoey bounded up the grassy embankment beyond the sea cans and rows and rows of humans and humanoid diesels. She glanced down at her wrists, seeing the fur was appearing much earlier today. She sighed as she pulled up her gloves as to not let Nellie see it as a reason to rip herself up inside.

The ginger sat on her hoodie upon the grass, looking out towards the circular building made out of limestone. Her greyish blue eyes were welling up as she sighed.

“You’re so pathetic, Nellie… your friends want to have a good time, and you got all overwhelmed by people and mud.” She internally huffed, her fingernails started to become pointy as she sulked in self-loathing.

Zoey approached her coworker silently before she broke the silence by sitting down beside the ginger and asked gently, “May I join you, Miss Joliet?”

“I am ruining everyone’s day, Zoe… what’s wrong with me? I mean, I’m having a breakdown all because I can’t handle a little crowding and some mud and the sunshine.”

She patted Nellie on the back and laughed softly, “Time for a good ol’ Zoey pep-talk. It seems like you need one.”

Nellie nodded and sat silently.

Zoey hushed caringly, “Nell, you know that I sometimes get the same way. Certain stimulus is too much for me, and your friends are going to understand. We’re all neuro-divergent.” She took off one glove to explain her point, forgetting that she didn’t want to let Nellie see in case Nellie took blame as she continued, “Like, I forgot to shave my hands last night. They’re practically paws and I really don’t like looking at it.” She put back on her glove, “So I cover it up to hide so it takes it off my mind.”

Zoey looked to the freckly friend beside her and stated gently, “Ellie doesn’t like the texture of Jell-O because it’s too slimy. Lazuli gets uncomfortable when someone cracks their knuckles, Star hates the feeling of microfiber cloth because it snags on her face when she gets wiped there with it. Oh, and Rainy doesn’t like kiwi seeds.”

“I guess all of those are pretty true. Though I still feel bad I can’t handle being at the biggest CN party that I might not live to see the next one.” Nellie sighed in defeat as she hunched her back making her smaller.

The fair skinned girl in the blue and white outfit answered, “While that might be true, it is okay to leave. We can do something else we enjoy. After all, CN is only doing this as a big PR stunt. It’s not made to be actually fun.”

Zoey summed up softly, “Anyways, Nellie, what I’m trying to tell you is that you don’t need to be here if you can’t do it. Instead of celebrating 100 years of some major corporation that doesn’t care about us, let’s go celebrate that us diesels are alive and have a better time than these people who are blinded by corporate greed.”

Nellie smiled slightly and stood up, before she shook out her hoodie.

Zoey joyfully remarked, “Now let’s go find your sister and Red!”

Suddenly, up the hill came marching a sulky Ellie followed by Red. She sulked loudly, “The tiny train not only isn’t alive but their horn is just for looks. I’m not impressed at all!” She gave a location map for kids to her sister before proceeding to gloomily ragdoll sit on the grass.

Zoey, who was still sitting, scooched over closer to the humanoid SW7 and offered calmingly, “Would us going to the Halloween store make it all better, Ell?”

Ellie stopped grumpily frowning, she silently thought about it for about 30 seconds. A joyful smile crossed her face before she sprang up excitedly and proclaimed in her normally cheery kiddish voice, “Let’s go to the pop up shop!”

Red laughed and remarked eagerly, “Now that’s my scene!”

The four made their way back to the parking lot to get to the VW Bus to head to the Spirit of Halloween that was across from Kildonan Place Mall.

To Be Continued


	80. The CN Centennial Celebration Letdown part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last part of the Centennial Celebration Arc. Sorry it took so long for me to make, life got in the way.  
> Anyways, here it is... a month and a 1/4th after it happened XD
> 
> So yeah, cameo from my Sodor human AU Duncan telling Nellie because he's a grump, and then Zoey having to soothe Nellie like she's a crying toddler.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Red is my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Star the GE AC44 is my OC  
> Jackie the GP30 (mentioned) belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA  
> Ellie the EMD SW7 in all formats belongs to herself as she too is a personality residing within me  
> Duncan and TTTE belongs to Rev. W. Awdry and Mattel

After four friends had come back from their shopping adventure and had ordered pizza, Red decided to call it a night. They left the station and headed back to the GWWD shops to rest up with Patricia.  
Nellie and Ellie were packing up Ellie’s things.  
“Thanks, sis, for having me over this weekend again. It was really fun to come back up to Canada,” the sunshine blonde girl trilled with a touch of sadness, “though I am getting used to be in the States again… I wish that our preservation line could just move to Canada… Then I could visit more often.”  
Nellie folded up her sister’s light blue Care Bears pyjamas and remarked, “Well, I mean, there will always be a next time. You always are welcome here.”  
Ellie collected up her stuffed animals from the air mattress in the station and put them into her rainbow backpack, remarking with a smile, “It’s not the same as our old place of work, but this place is nice to be at too since I love Winnipeg and I get to see my big sister!”  
The two humanoid switcher sisters hugged and laughed a bit.  
Ellie apologized, “Sorry that today was a flop. Maybe if CN had tried harder to make it more accessible for neuro-divergent people and put in more effort for rail fans, then we could’ve stayed.”  
Nellie’s mind started to churn out misery inducing thoughts. The metaphorical wheels were turning in her mind as the small rotund ginger began thinking what if she ruined the CN celebration for everyone.  
Suddenly a portal opened up and a guy with a jet black Mohawk worn down walked in.  
He proclaimed in, “Ay, Ell. Ready t’ go home?”  
Ellie let go of her sister and ran right to the 6 foot 5 man clad in orangey yellow. She exclaimed excitedly, “Hm-nm!!! Hi Duncan-roo!!!” as she hugged him tightly.  
Nellie greeted, “Long time, no see, Dunc,” as she folded up Ellie’s spare blue and yellow shirt with a large white ‘2’ emblazoned upon the torso.  
Duncan’s eyes looked at the sister of his girlfriend and remarked, “Och’ well Nell. How’s things here?”  
“Miserable, but Zoey’s helping me adjust.”  
“Na, don’t yoo be fallin’ for the secon’ unit. Y’don’ wan’ ‘er breakin’ yer heart. Las’time it cost us all ooer jobs.” The tall lanky Scottish warlock stated, there was bitterness in his tone now.  
Nellie’s ears pointed down unamusedly.  
Ellie piped up happily as she let go of her handsome boyfriend, “But Duncan, Zoey’s already seems to like Nellie!”  
“Wh… Ellie… that’s not really…” the fox eared girl stammered, “I-I told Zoey n-no.”  
Duncan sighed annoyedly in his highland brogue, “Nellie, yer playin’ wi’ fire. Make ‘er not like yeh so this nonsense can end.”  
Nellie zippered up her sister’s backpack which was all packed up now, and handed it to Duncan silently.  
Duncan turned and walked into the portal, he called back, “Come along, Ellie.”  
Ellie nodded and hugged her sister quickly again. She apologetically remarked, “Bye sis, sorry for saying things I’m not supposed to.”  
Nellie was internally face palming as she soothed to her sister, “It’s okay, we all make mistakes.”  
Ellie and Duncan headed through the portal and the portal closed.  
Nellie was now alone and she flopped face-down on the air mattress, screaming into the pillow that was on it.  
The office door opened.  
“Go away, Star…” Nellie muffled into the pillow miserably.  
“It’s me, Nellie.” Zoey stated as she sat down on the sofa beside Nellie who was lying on the bed.  
“Oh… Please go away, Zoe.” Nellie sighed as she looked up at the brunette, her eyes dull with depression, “I made us miss the biggest CN party because I was a baby…”  
Zoey’s nose twitched and she looked crossly upon the humanoid SW1001. She huffed as she crossed her arms, “Nellie, for notch-sakes, it wouldn’t have been worth it. You’re putting yourself into a tizzy over missing out on a stupid century party?”  
“It’s not like that…” Nellie sighed as she sat up and looked up to the humanoid GP30. She fidgeted with her hair bow as she continued, admitting her insecurities to the second GP30 made in Canada, “You see, it makes me think of when I had to leave Winnipeg for what I thought would be forever because I got purchased by my old railway.”  
The ginger let go of her bow as she placed her hands near her heart as her voice began to shake, “I was so scared I wouldn’t see here again. And during the VIA train ride I would cry at night in the bathroom because I wouldn’t see my mom again, and I also realized I’d miss my dad.” Nellie began to ramble with panic as if she was reliving it, “A-and I-I couldn’t tell your sister this… I was so scared she would think less of me. I mean, I did admit it after I was there, but I was just so terrified.”  
Zoey got off the couch and knelt on the air mattress with her closest friend and she gently rubbed her hand on the chubby girl’s back. She soothed gently, “Shhhh, it’s okay Nellie. Just let it out. Let out all the hurt.”  
Nellie began crying uncontrollably and sobbing. After a solid two minutes of just crying until the skin around her eyes was a tinge red from the crying, she somberly admitted, “Then Duncan got mad at me… and that didn’t help…”  
“I’ll have a talk with Duncan later. He shouldn’t be still hurting you over the fact that everyone you had ties to got fired.”  
“Th-that’s not what it was entirely about, Zoey…” Nellie shuffled nervously as she stated this, “Ellie admitted that she saw how you were towards me to him, and… he told me to make myself less likable to you so I won’t break your heart and rip you apart and destroy lives.”  
Zoey froze upon hearing this. Zoey’s ears began to ring upon hearing such a saddening thing Duncan said to come from Nellie. It took Zoey a minute before the ringing stopped. She answered with a deep breath, “GMD-sakes… He sure has some issues, despite Ellie’s work to make him less grumpy.”  
The ginger hugged Zoey tightly seeking solace from the BUNX founder.  
“Anyways, Nell, I know that the Sudrian Punk got to you, but remember that it’s not him that decides how you should act. Plus I don’t think you could make me not like ya.” Zoey said with a smile and a wink before hugging her friend back, “Unless you called me Joey.”  
“OH, NEVER EVER! I have trouble alone just saying that name after you told me!”  
Zoey laughed and patted Nellie on the back as she reaffirmed, “You’re too precious, Nellie.”  
The two stopped hugging and they just sat in silence for a little bit.

“So, wanna have a sleepover while the mattress is still here?” the brunette asked kindly to the fox eared girl.  
Nellie smiled happily, she was back to being her happy weekend self once more, as she pleaded joyfully, “Notch yeah! I like when you stay in the station!”

The End of this Arc- the normal part of the series will resume now


	81. An Awful Day and Corvidae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie has a bad day at work, so Zoey intervenes a little leading to her offering to take Nellie shopping to help cope with Nellie's negativity.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Tracy is my OC  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

The SW1001 trundled up to the CN practice yard, her fuel tank churning with anxiety and fear. She really didn’t want to be there.

Tracy glared as she saw the smaller diesel, her compressor hissed angrily as she barked, “Where the fuck did you switch those car carriers on Friday?!”

The smaller diesel’s compressor kicked on out of fear as she began to head towards where she thought she left them on the last working day, her memory not all that strong because she had been distracted during the weekend.

“SIT!” commanded the EMD GP38, her tone aggressive.

Nellie’s form rippled and she landed upon the sleepers and ballast on her buttocks as a human. She winced in pain from landing hard, but she was too afraid.

The larger diesel stared in anger before yelling, “That’s fucking it! I’m done! You can figure out the tasks for yourself today!”  
Which was just code for ‘if you don’t read my mind and do things right, I’ll just yell at you because I’m refusing to help you because I hate you.’

The humanoid SW1001 remained on the tracks, sitting, her eyes flowing with tears. She softly muttered as she watched the supervising diesel roll off in a huff, “You’re the reason I want to be dead.”

Nellie picked herself up and trundled over by the training building to pick up her drivers for the day.

Thankfully today she had students who were properly briefed on what to do. They didn’t even have to ask Nellie for help. They just drove her and didn’t talk much to her.

The SW1001 thought about going home at the end of the shift to Zoey’s place. She would probably be greeted by Zoey with a bowl of some sort of fruit or maybe freshly boiled sweet corn. They talk about feelings.  
The timid little diesel’s engine stopped clattering a little as she thought about being safe at home comforted and cared for.  
She hummed the melody of Someone Saved My Life Tonight softly to herself as her engineers took her to collect some tanker cars at the edge of the practice yard; she thought fondly about the comfort that Zoey had been giving her lately. The switcher knew in her mind that Zoey had told her that she had no intentions of being with her, so she could safely seek comfort from her brunette best friend later.

Oddly enough, when it was the end of Nellie’s day, a blue VW van pulled up to the practice yards’ parking lot.

The SW1001 turned humanoid and ran over to the gate, excitedly.

Tracy looked with contempt upon the smaller and weaker diesel causing the smaller one to walk slowly and express no joy.

The brunette saw this and had a MAJOR problem with it. She entered the gate way and glared back at the American Geep. The humanoid GP30 asked in a very managerial tone, “Problem?”

“Your switcher is behaving abhorrently and can’t do her job right. CN should get rid of her.”

Zoey scowled, her tone becoming more severe, “Watch what you say about Nellie. You don’t realize how much damage your words do.”

“Does it look like I fucking care?” Tracy sneered as she rolled her eyes at Zoey.

Without much hesitation, the 6’3” woman darted over to the diesel and remarked aggressively, “Just know you’re speaking with her leaser, and I can let CN know.”

“CN GIVES NO FUCKS ABOUT….”

A human staff member approached concernedly, “Excuse me; is everything alright here?”

Nellie piped up before either of the arguing GP units could, “Sorry, Zoey and I were just leaving.”

Nellie looked over her shoulder at Zoey, who finally gave up and walked to the van with Nellie.

“You shouldn’t let her do that to you…” Zoey warned as she walked up to the vehicle, holding the door open for Nellie

Nellie huffed as she sat in the passenger’s seat, “You shouldn’t get so involved. I could lose this contract, Zoey. I know you want to protect me, but I need to protect you and myself… And protect myself from the wrath of Slade,” she closed the door with a slight slam.

The brunette got into the driver’s side as Nellie buckled up while remarking caringly, “I’m sorry I care too much. If it makes things better, we’re going to stop for ice cream,” she closed her door and buckled up as well, beginning to drive out of the parking lot.

The humanoid SW1001 shook her head and responded, “I’m a bad diesel. I don’t deserve ice cream.”

“Please don’t start with this, Nellie. You need to make more progress with emotional recovery.”

“I’ve been doing nothing but upsetting people lately,” the smaller woman began to cry, her grey-ish blue eyes spilling a river of tears as she broke down.

Zoey pulled over the vehicle in a parking lot of a nearby gas station before rubbing Nellie’s back soothingly, realizing that she could comfort Nellie now, when she was hysterical with sadness.  
“Hey, shhh, no, it’s okay Nellie. Shhh, it’s alright. Just let it out” the brunette soothed, hoping that it would help, “I know you feel bad, but you need to realize the bad people who hurt you don’t matter.”

“That doesn’t help at all,” Nellie sniffled, wiping her tears with her wrist.

“You know what we can do though, that might help?” Zoey offered, hoping it would distract Nellie from the hurt, “We can go to the store and get you something pretty to make you feel a little better.”  
The humanoid GP30 turned out of the parking lot and began driving towards the nearest Giant Tiger Discount Store. She happily suggested, “We can pick you out a nice new shirt, or maybe a plush toy, maybe some peanut butter granola bars.”

Nellie didn’t say anything but smiled at the thought.

“Great then, let’s tickle your inner corvid.”

The chubby ginger in the passenger seat let out a little laugh as she responded, “I’m a fox though.”

To Be Continued


	82. Are You And Nellie Dating?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey is confronted by her younger sister and Star, but she's only going to give them the half truth
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Lazuli the GP20-ECO and Star the AC44 are my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

A knock was heard by Zoey who was making some adjustments to the mechsuit before Wednesday, she was planning to go back to the abandoned metal works to deliver a finishing blow to the strange woman who seemed to be the one Nellie had issues with.  
The brunette stood up from her work bench and called out, "Hey Nell, could you get the door?"

The ginger fox eared girl, however, was too busy drawing and listening to music to hear.

Zoey gave up and walked to the front door. She opened the steel door and looked down to who had come to see her.

"Hey big sis, I have some questions," Lazuli started by saying with some crossness in her voice.

Star helped push the humanoid GP20-ECO into the industrial home while cheerfully stating, "Hi Zoey. This is an interrogation."

The green eyed redhead sighed and remarked to her adorable girlfriend, "No, Star, we're supposed to be stern. Not cheery."

"Oh, oopsie!" Star corrected and sternly trilled, "You're in big trouble, missy."

The fair-skinned humanoid diesel giggled gently and remarked, "Is this about me forgetting to take you to Build-A-Bear? I haven't forgot, just work got kind of crazy and..."

Lazuli rolled her eyes and stated, "Are you courting Nellie? You KNOW she's probably not ready for that."

The GP30 adjusted her glasses in shock. She stammered with a laugh, "I-I what?"

The dark haired humanoid AC44 looked to her wheelchair bound girlfriend before stating naively, "If she doesn't know does that mean she's innocent?"

"Sis. I don't like that you're dodging the question. This is SERIOUS! She's a pretty lady, I can imagine that you'd want to maybe... take her out on the town, maybe give her some nose kisses..."

Star silently sat on the arm rest of Zoey's couch wondering what would be the result of all this.

"Girls, I'm not 'courting' Nellie. I know she's not ready, and there's no funny business, she and I are living under the same roof but nothing sketchy."

"Well how do you explain this?!" The sparkling eyed humanoid diesel proclaimed as she held up a pencil line art of an anime bunny girl in a ball gown that was sitting on the table.

Lazuli giggle-snorted before responding, "Pfft, Stardust, that's a literal sketch. Sketchy means something that's not quite right."

Star looked at the drawing and with a smile stated, "Well, it's a very nice sketch."

"If you little detectives are done, I would appreciate that. Considering I don't like that my little sister is doubting me."

"I'm sorry, big sister, I was worried," the ginger sighed with her cat ears pointed downwards, "I just know that sometimes when diesels live together they fall in love."

"I'm not my sister, and anyways Nellie's not falling for me." Zoey answered with a proud smile. She went to the cupboard and got out a pack of oreos. She returned to standing before the young girls and handed them the unopened pack as she softly said, "I'm sorry your interrogation turned out fruitless, but here's some cookies."

Lazuli smiled as she accepted the delightful cookies, responding joyously, "Sorry sis, and thanks for the cookies." She then looked to Star and excitedly exclaimed, "Let's go back to the station and see how much icing we can fit into one!"

The two girls left after a quick farewell, leaving Zoey alone with Nellie in the other room.

The brunette smiled as she locked the door, softly remarking to herself, "Zoey Selene Krolik, you're a cunning one. It's wrong to lie, but the prize is so worth it."  
She wandered down the hall, a skip in her step, to Nellie's room before knocking on the door.

"It's open," the fox-eared girl called out. 

Zoey walked in to see Nellie laying on the area rug drawing some anime-style anthro and humanoid characters. She asked curiously, "What are you up to, Sugar Plum?"

The greyish blue eyes of the ginger looked to her brunette friend confusedly.  
"D-did you just call me a sugar plum?"

"Mannerism picked up from someone over at CP. Sorry about that, Nel," Zoey slyly answered, thankful that Nellie would believe that quick cover up, "So, what are you drawing?"

"I drew you!" The ginger excitedly stated proudly holding up a drawing of Zoey in her mechsuit.

The humanoid GP30 remarked softly, happy that her plan was going perfectly, "That's truly a lovely drawing. Keep up the brilliant work, Nell."

To Be Continued


	83. An Unsettling Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> When Zoey decides to use a loophole for Malcolm's advice, she ends up giving Nellie a bit of a scare.  
> Yes, notching IS what you think it is.  
> The thing about pre-1980 CN diesels is because in 1980 they rolled out the Protective Rainbow Program when diesels who were asexual were invalidated by being cornered and asked to notch. The program went on to discourage notching and sexual harassment. However, consensual notching among diesels still happened, just off property.  
> Nellie is asexual too
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Malcolm Goldstein and Red are my OCs  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

“I recommend offering to brush her hair to seal the deal.”

“No can do, I brushed it back in July because she neglected it and it got knotted, it was a lot of her wincing and vocalizing her discomfort, and she asked me to never do that again.”

“Do you brush yours that way?”

"..."

“I have to go now, Zoe. Sorry to leave you with questions still. Alright, so to recap; tell Nellie her she’s pretty, compliment her hair, and when the time is right, brand her.”

The conversation rang in the mind of the humanoid GMD GP30 while she stood inside the pastel girly haven better known as Claire's.  
The wall of hair accessories and basic styling tools seemed daunting. So many options, but what would make Nellie the most happy, what would make her fox eared friend gladly throw herself into Zoey's arms and fall in love with her.

A sales associate approached, "Hello Miss, need help finding something?"

"Yes actually," the brunette with the blue tips began, "I have a soon to be girlfriend, and I want to get her a gift she'll just adore."

The sales lady smiled as she trilled, "That's so sweet! So, what does she like?"

"Hair bows, hair brushes, headbands... the question is, which one would she like the most?"

The sales associate inquired to the BUNX owner, "What's her favourite colour?"

Zoey responded gladly and proudly, "Pink and black. She likes other colours, but those two seem to be her top two."

The worker with the name tag 'Chantelle' reached up and grabbed a gift set, a sparkling pink clip on hair bow with a matching small hair brush, then she walked over to the headbands and started looking at a pink and black tiger stripe headband.

The brunette softly retorted, "She prefers a plain black headband, it goes with all her clothes."

"Understandable," Chantelle responded before taking down a basic black pleather headband, "I hope she loves the gifts."

The humanoid GP30 gave her approval and headed up to the till to pay for the present for her favourite EMD switcher.

It was 5:30 PM, the skies were starting to cloud over for the evening rain when the SW1001 trundled down the CN line adjacent to the industrial home of her roommate.  
She focused deeply, breathing in while shifting into her humanoid form.   
Her fox ears turned in curiosity, listening for if Zoey was home. She heard the faint sound of someone humming a melody inside the home. Nellie's nose picked up the scent of chocolate chip cookies. She gleefully smiled and briskly walked towards the door, eager to get in to have some fresh cookies.

Zoey looked up from the counter she was wiping down as she heard the door unlock.  
She watched the portly ginger humanoid enter and set down her keys on the windowsill by the door.  
"How was today, Nell?"

Nellie didn't answer

"That bad, huh?"

The SW1001 in her human form walked up to Zoey and gave her a tight hug.  
"I'm just happy to be here. I don't have to deal with mean diesels until tomorrow."

Zoey softly patted Nellie on the back while hugging her back, she soothed, "I'm happy you feel welcome here."   
The brunette let go of her crush before she suggested, "I got you a little present, go look on your bed."

The ginger hugged Zoey super tightly before letting her go, she cheerfully exclaimed, "Thank you, Zoe, you're the best!"  
She walked quickly down the hallway, opened her bedroom door and saw the pink polka-dot bag with pink tissue paper, causing her to squeal with delight. She loved presents, both giving and getting them, but she didn't often get presents.  
The chubby fox-eared girl plunked down onto the bed and started taking out the tissue paper, uncovering the first gift.  
"AHHHH! A black headband! I love it!!!"  
She dug deeper, finding a $15 card to buy more songs on her phone, she exclaimed happily, "Thanks Zoey!"

The brunette with the blue hue called down the hall happily in response to Nellie's joy, "You're welcome," softly slipping in a quieter "dear" after to just give it a try.

She reached back into the bag and pulled out the gift set, her expression changed to one of worry.   
While the ginger adored the pink bow, it was the hairbrush that worried her.  
Nellie recalled memories where she asked Malcolm and Red, two of her past lovers to 'brand' her through making her look slightly different which was normally through the means of doing her hair, and how often it lead to the SW1001 and one of the two she had been with to notching about the yard like a thirsty pair of pre-1980 CN diesels.  
Nellie began to panic, wondering if Zoey was ACTUALLY asexual or if that was just a ploy to get Nellie to trust her, for the ginger to metaphorically let her hair down, and then the GP30 would make Nellie surge and twitch with unholy mirth on the tracks beside the industrial home.  
"But what if it's just an innocent gift? I mean... I never told Zoey about branding, right?" Nellie whispered to her plush rabbit, still worried as to what to do.  
She stood up and started pacing, wondering what to say or do. Her heart pounded with pure panic.  
"Oh god! Oh no! I don't want this, I can't do this. I have to go, I have to leave!"  
The humanoid SW1001 grabbed her plush bunny and her messenger bag, she started stuffing clothes and self-care items into it before opening the screen on the window and trying to escape.

"I hope you're ready for mouth-watering co..." Zoey began to say as she entered Nellie's room until she saw the switcher exiting through the window.

"Uh... It's not what it looks like," the ginger anxiously laughed.

Zoey walked over as she took off her oven mitts, "Nell, what's troubling you? Why are you running off?"

"I..." Nellie began to say, her heart pounding with fear, "I don't want to notch. I'm not that kind of girl anymore, the thought of it is repulsive. I'm a good girl. I didn't know you weren't ace."

Zoey's eyes went wide as she began to try to deescalate her friend, "Nellie, Nellie, what's got you in a tizzy? I'm not going to notch you. I promise."

"Then you got me a hairbrush for innocent purposes?"

Zoey was perplexed by this statement and responded with an awkward, "Umm... Yes, I don't understand what you mean by..." it clicked in suddenly, "Malcolm..."

"Let me guess, you asked him what presents I'd like and he told you that I'd like that a lot."

Zoey recovered quickly from her confusion to try to play off her mistake, "Yeah, and I'm sorry if it upset you."

The humanoid SW1001 put the screen back on the window and set down her bag. She was glad it was all a misunderstanding.

"I'm sorry for the confusion, but I promise, I'm not going to pull any funny business. Let's go have some cookies."

Nellie nodded and gladly followed Zoey.

Later that evening, Zoey was in the station using the radio.  
"YOU THOUGHT I WANTED TO BANG NELLIE?!"

Malcolm retorted sternly to the BUNX CEO, "You don't want to? I thought you liked her."

"I'M ASEXUAL! Now she probably thinks I'm a creep!" Zoey yelled back as she paced as much as the cord from the railway radio would let her.

"Cool your hood, Krolik. You might still get your chance," the Norfolk Southern diesel radioed back, "Unless you are starting to want to back out. That's okay too, especially if you don't feel alright about it."

"I..." Zoey thought, she knew forcing someone to fall in love with them was wrong, but she saw the ends would justify the means. Nellie would be safe with someone who had her best interests in mind, and she wouldn't be lonely, if it stays a secret, then no one could tell her she couldn't date Nellie.

"Well?"

"It's going to be full steam ahead, no pun intended, I am going to have her. Hell or high water."

To Be Continued


	84. Nellie Stands Up with Some Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Upon being asked a life changing question with some strong points, Nellie, with some help, stands up and says 'No'
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Angie is my OC  
> Jackie the GP30 is the trainsona of Esquimaltnanaimo on deviantart

"Where's everyone else, I thought Sunday was ice cream day for everyone?" Nellie inquired as she looked around the Dairy Queen's parking lot, surprised Zoey and her were the only ones there.  
The two entered the frozen treat chain restaurant location and stood at the line for the counter.

"I thought it would be nice to just sit here and talk without everyone else," the humanoid GP30 remarked, smiling, she was going to pop the question to Nellie, and she felt it would be a yes.

Once the two had their order, paid, and were sitting at a table, Nellie felt uncomfortable to even eat her mint oreo blizzard, feeling like Zoey was watching her.  
"Hey, Zoe... wh-what's on your mind?" the switcher asked, feeling self conscious.

"Just a very important thing I want to ask you."

Nellie felt panic surge through her human vessel, she didn't want to have to deal with this. She stammered, "Am I in trouble, are you firing me? Please don't fire me. I swear to EMD that I didn't know that middle tanker was propane."

"Wh..." the brunette asked, "No, no, you're not in trouble."  
"I promise, you're not in trouble."

The grey eyed girl looked relieved, but still worried.

Zoey began with a nervous laugh, "So, we've been friends for a while, Nell. We're living together now, and I want to make it official, make us official."

"I.. I don't follow." Nellie quietly responded, she did, but she was scared.

Zoey placed her right hand on Nellie's and quelled, "I want you to be my girlfriend."

Nellie pulled her hand back and quietly laughed, "You don't want that. Trust me, I'm a can of snakes dipped in a caramel glaze with glass shards." She continued seriously, "I'm a big mess, I'll just make you hate me. I have a tendency to do that with GP30s."

Zoey softly soothed, "Nellie, think of it this way. We would be stronger together. We would have each other's backs. We would be able to cuddle after a bad day. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"I..."

"And we could go on dates to the Forks, and walk around the Assiniboine Park together. No daydreaming, just action. We could go for tea together, all gussied up."

"That sounds nice..."

Zoey finished up her 'sales pitch' with, "And we could work out all our little problems and kiss goodnight and never be angry."

Nellie didn't respond, she felt trampled by Zoey's words. She wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Any comments, sweetheart?" Zoey asked, trying out another pet name.

Nellie awkwardly blurted out, "I need time to think," and bolted out of the Dairy Queen, leaving her ice cream behind.

Zoey looked down at where Nellie was sitting and began fighting back tears, in her mind's eye she had failed.

Nellie clattered down the tracks near GWWD, turned humanoid as she drew nearer, and hurried up to the station through the open car gate. She ignored everyone who greeted her and bolted into the station, slamming the door behind her.

Angie was standing by the radio talking to someone on the other end.  
"Just a sec. Nellie bolted in."

"I'll leave."

Nellie blurted out, upon realizing who was on the other end of the call, "W-w-wait, wait! I need help!"

Angie radioed to the one on the other end, "I mean, we could help her. Right?"

"... Alright. But this is something serious right?"

Nellie came over and picked up the receiver responding, "Zoey asked me to be her girlfriend."

The sound of a glass breaking came from the other side of the radio call. Angie's eyes went wide in shock.

The BC GP30 remarked, "You didn't say yes... did you? If you did, I'm going to disconnect this call right this second."

"NO! I mean, she had some good points.."

"Nellie!" Jackie huffed. She sternly stated, "She's literally made of the same metal I am, same specs and all, yes there's differences, but not enough. That would only instill that you're still nuts for me."

"No, not like that... I mean... I don't really want to date her."

Angie sighed, "Oy vey, here we go again."

"Again?" the fox eared girl asked.

The diesel on the other end began, "Okay, so back in the 80s when she and I were working the E&N, she had the hots for this lumber Shay. She actively tried to guilt the poor thing into dating her."

Angie interjected, "And that's when you brought the hammer down Tanakh style, right? You know, like wrath of God?"

"BIG TIME. She was back to being a timid. I just thought she wouldn't take advantage of a diesel who has such an inferiority complex that she needs constant validation."

Nellie responded defensively, "Hey!..." before she thought about it and sighed, "Yeah, you're actually right."

Angie suggested, "You tell her no, then come here for a few days til it cools down and we can figure out things and if you need to move to another place."

"When she comes to try to continue to coerce you, I want you to call me up," the older and stronger GP30 remarked.

Nellie softly responded with a worried, "Mm-hm."

Angie softly responded, "I can go to her house and collect some of your belongings."

Nellie nodded.

The sound of work boots quickly walking up the platform were heard, everyone fell silent.

Zoey burst in holding two partially melted blizzards with tall lids on them panting.  
"Nellie! I'm really sorry, I..."

The radio interrupted the bespectacled brunette, "Sister 'dearest', I'd like to have a word with you."

Zoey looked at Nellie with both fear and anger.

Nellie exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes, "You made me feel bad, and I wanted to say no. I should be able to make my own choices."

The radio conveyed the stern message from the first built GMD GP30, "Zoey, don't you know better?! You don't try to, let alone take advantage of those who are suffering by guilting them into loving you with promises of adoration and protection. Like Nellie is vulnerable AND unstable."

Nellie stood there awkwardly.

Angie silently patted Nellie on the back.

Zoey huffed, "I was only telling the truth."

Angie remarked, "A good friend would respect their friend's feelings and not try to force them."

Zoey got agitated and exclaimed, "I'm headed home. Nellie, I'm sorry I'm so awful. I just wish you wouldn't hide behind your action red 'friends' instead of telling me," before she stormed out.

"I'm green, for fucksakes," The first GMD GP30 stated in a huff below her breath

Nellie felt really bad and sat silently on the couch with her plush rabbit.

Jackie sighed, "Fucking hell, my sister stirs up even more drama than Nellie. I'm hanging up, leave me out of this shit from now on." before the radio call ended.

"I'll go get some of your belongings, Nell, if you'd like," Angie suggested.

Nellie sighed as she laid down on the sofa, "I'll be fine, Angie. Just... go home please... I have a lot to think about."

To Be Continued


	85. One Little Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> By accident, Slade runs into Nellie, causing her to fall into a coma. Let's see if she survives.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality residing within me of the same name  
> Slade, Angie, Lazuli, and Debbie are all my OCs  
> Beezelbub is a representation of a bad personality residing within me

The SW1001 was drained from her night with little sleep. Her mind was barely functional. She sat on a CN wye, trying to fight falling asleep as she had to go to work for the day.  
She heard the sound of a loud K5LA in the distance as she drifted off into sleep.

What she didn't know was that it was a stack train being pulled by Slade that was passing through.

Nellie opened her eyes to see Slade's black irised eyes looking at hers, him approaching fast, unable to stop. She tried to throw it into notch 8 and flee backwards, but she was struck, she was pushed for a bit before she fell off the rails and landed off to the side in the tall grass on the trackside.

Meanwhile, at the GWWD office, Lazuli was left in charge, running the office.

There was a knock on the door frame to what was Zoey's station office.

The young lass in the wheelchair answered, "Come in!"

Angie entered the office and looked down in surprise at the humanoid GP20-ECO. She babbled in shock, "W-why are you here? What kind of ferkakta nonsense is your sister up to?"

"She's upset because she got into a fight with Nellie... Anyways, what can I do for you?" Lazuli responded, naive as to what actually happened.

"I quit CP last night. They wanted to paint me candy apple red, I told them to suck a goat tuchus. They said I was fired, to which I told them I quit..." The angellic looking humanoid diesel huffed before she calmed down and asked, "Could I stay here for maybe 10 months?"

Lazuli was worried what Zoey would say, but she remembered, Lazuli was completely in charge. The little cat-eared girl smiled and proclaimed, "Consider yourself hired, Angie. I'll order up some action red paint and a decal to make you BUNX."

"Thanks, Laz. You're not a putz, like your sister."

Meanwhile, the CN rail crew made Nellie turn human to try to move her a little easier. The short woman's breathing was shallow, she was bruised and battered and she occasionally coughed up blood as black as the night.

Slade sobbed, "I... I didn't stop soon enough... I hope she lives."

A rail service truck pulled up, out of the front seat hopped a greying humanoid SD75i. She too was stocky and short like Nellie, her greyish blue eyes flowing with tears. She ran over to the still and motionless humanoid SW1001, "Nellie! Nellie! Please don't die. Mommy's here. Please hold on to life for mommy."

The pulse was faint for Nellie as Debbie picked up her precious little girl. Debbie had been there for Nellie, since back when Deb was an SD40 who was given the chance at a second life in a new vessel. She cried, her heart was breaking because her precious baby was dying in her arms. She looked up at Slade and exclaimed, "HOW COULD YOU BE SO CARELESS!? OUR POOR BABY WAS WORN DOWN AND YOU ALMOST KILLED HER!"  
She hugged the little diesel and sobbed, "If you pull through, Nellie, I'll keep you safer. I promise, my baby."

Nellie didn't respond. Within, the SW1001 was dealing with a lot more than what anyone could imagine.  
The switcher was in a dark purple room, a voice hissed in a familiar British accent, "Well well well, looks like I finally have you where I want you, Dumbass!"  
The humanoid SW1001 looked around the room, trying to find the source of the voice.

"You know, you made it so difficult. What with your 'beloved' friends giving you reasons to live, only for you to break the bonds and end up alone only for the cycle to repeat itself," the voice snarled, "If only you knew how people REALLY felt about you."

The walls lit up with words, the echoing sounds of voices Nellie had heard before and ones presumably said when her back was turned or she wasn't around to hear it.  
"What a disgrace to diesel-kind." "For notch-sakes Nellie, you're incapable of doing anything right!" "She has no self respect" "You'd be more useful as scrap metal." "What kind of diesel makes that many mistakes?!" "I'm so glad she'll no longer slow down the work force." "Thank the manufacturer that she's not bothering us anymore." "She should burn in hell" "What a mistake!" "I'm surprised her mother loves her."  
The chorus of insults and scarring words brought the fox eared girls to her knees with tears.

Spawning from the darkness, a platinum and mauve haired flapper woman approached, her heels sharpened like daggers, her eyes piercing and cold, her smile demonic and dark.   
"Hello there, Nellie, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Beezelbub Lilith Azazel."

Meanwhile in the external world, Nellie had been rushed to hospital, Zoey had gotten the call and burst into the hospital room where Debbie was crying at the bed side, while Angie sat in the corner, praying.  
The brunette gasped, her bespectacled eyes flooded with tears as she placed her hands on one of Nellie's hands to feel for a pulse.

The pulse of the battered red-head was faint, and her hands were as cold as steel.

The GP30 sobbed as she bargained, "Nellie, if you can hear me, please... I promise I won't hurt you again, I promise I'll be a good, noble, and honest friend. Just, please... please pull through."

No response from the still and light breathing humanoid SW1001.

Debbie wept, her eyes had run out of tears. She turned to Zoey and solemnly stated, "I hope she pulls through... I wouldn't want to live without my little girl."

Angie rolled her eyes with a grumpy scoff at Zoey before getting up to get a coffee down at the Robins in the vestibule of the hospital.

To Be Continued


	86. The Stolen Switcher Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> So Nellie gets stolen during the unholiest hour of the morning, leading 3 of her remaining friends to storm the old metal shop to try to get her back before Beezel can kill the stout little switcher.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality residing within me of the same name  
> Rainy the SD40 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Angie and Debbie are all my OCs  
> Beezelbub is a representation of a bad personality residing within me

The darkened St. Boniface general hospital was quiet.  
Zoey and Angie were sleeping sitting up right in the chairs in Nellie's hospital room, Debbie sleeping in a cot in the room.   
At 3 AM, a noise awoke the pair of sleeping bespectacled women.

The brunette looked up to see a woman in an outdated nurse's outfit leaving the room, the bed now empty.  
Zoey nudged Angie as she stood up swiftly and bolted into the hallway to chase the woman.

The woman's pale grey skin almost seemed to gleam under the flickering hospital lights like polished metal while she glared with gold almost glowing eyes at the brunette before she began to run while pushing the stretcher with the injured humanoid diesel upon it.

Angie joined Zoey, running down the hallway, both of them were nearly there, they reached out their hands to grab onto the stretcher when the strange woman turned the corner with Nellie on the stretcher.

The two girls ran around the corner to find the woman wasn't there and nor was Nellie, there were no staff corridors, no elevators, just a dead end by a window.

The humanoid GP30 quietly panicked as she paced, "That was that demonic woman I saw a few weeks back, she radios Nellie horrid things. She's probably taking Nellie for the slaughter."  
The brunette began to hyperventilate, her mind racing.

Angie thought quickly and placed on her sunstone talisman, allowing her humanoid form to shift to her more sailor scout-y form.   
She focused deeply, fixating her energy on the window before them, slowly using her powers to change the solid thick pane of glass into more of a soft liquid bubble they could easily pass through.  
She held out her hands and proclaimed, "Hold onto my hands, Zoey. We need to get to your house to get your mech suit. Once we've done that, lead the way to this demonic shmendrik so we can kick her back to wherever she came from."

The humanoid GP30 followed the instructions of her SD40 friend before Angie took off like a bullet out of a gun, flying through the window and into the night.   
The window reformed back to its normal form.

The two flew over the old sector of Saint Boniface, looking down at the few drivers on the roads and the blinking traffic lights that went to red and amber late at night.  
Upon nearing 404 Archibald, where Zoey's industrial home was, they spotted a dark figure lurking around the windows, trying to peer in. 

Zoey drew from her boot a dagger, and once the two were closer to the ground, she let go of Angie's hand and landed safely upon the gravel of the parking lot surrounding her industrial home.

The being looked at Zoey with orangey glowing eyes, before noticing the knife. In a worried British tone it pleaded, "Wait, I-I can explain."

Zoey lunged at the dark figure who then bolted into the light where they could be seen. She exclaimed in shock, "RAINY?! What the hell are you doing lurking around my house?!"

Angie landed on the gravel and stated upon looking at Rainy, "Oh, so it's just you. What are you doing here at 3AM lurking about?" 

"I was wondering where Zoey was. She didn't come home, and Nellie didn't either," Rainy answered with some concern before looking up and down at Angie. The crocodilian-like diesel suavely crooned, "Well aren't you the corgi's two bits, all gussied up like that, Angie." 

Angie rolled her eyes and softly remarked, "Wow, you really are a posh douchebag."

Zoey huffed as she fumbled with her keys, "I don't have time for this. I have to go put on my suit." Once she had the right key, she bolted in and began preparing for battle.

Angie sighed as she offered, "We're going to save Nellie from being killed. You can join if you don't make anymore comments."

The crocodilian diesel silently went into Zoey's house, looking for a weapon he could use in the up coming battle.   
He walked around the living room and settled on a decorative viking axe, that was hung up too high for anyone 5'4" and under, that would be at least sharp enough to hurt.

Zoey strode out of her back shop, her mech suit charged up and polished to the nines. Her ponytail done up into a fishtail braid with a single action red ribbon woven through the length and securing the bottom, and in her right hand was a sword, plated with the purest of silvers.

Rainy and Zoey exited the industrial home, and once the door was locked, Zoey and Angie took to the skies while Rainy began climbing up onto roof tops and hopping from one to another trying to keep up with the two girls.

Meanwhile, in the mind of the SW1001, the torment sieged on from the demonic foe.

"You know something really sad but hilarious, Nellie? A diesel is pretty fucked up when what makes their engine flutter with love is positivity and validation," the flapper woman sneered as she strutted around the sobbing humanoid who was collapsed on the ground. She stepped one of her sharpened heels of her shoes down hard onto the left foot of her prey, hissing cruelly, "Oh wait, that's you!"

Nellie silently prayed, hoping someone would save her. She didn't care who it was, she just wanted to go home and live her normal miserable life. 

The cruel woman knelt down to Nellie's level and remarked, "You know how I was able to radio you, you little ragamuffin?" She stepped back and started convulsing and shaking, her form growing into a large demonic steam monster. Her hands became large with sharp claws that could tear through steel, her eyes became as deep blue as the night, while her irises glowed like the headlamp of an old steamer. Her head was dome shaped with two protruding curled horns and long goat like ears.  
The beastly woman let out a roar, steam pouring out of her mouth like how a dragon would blow flames.  
She growled as she bared her monstrous mouth of fangs, "I'm the missing Mercury."

The three humanoid diesels reached the old Vulcan Iron Works and peered in through one of the rooftop windows seeing what they would be dealing with.  
Nellie was sitting slumped in the corner of the room while the evil woman clad in 1920s nurse's gear created a pentagram made of salt around a small kiddy pool filled with liquid as black as calligrapher's ink, the air reeked of sulphur and coal smoke.

Zoey started talking softly, "Alright, Angie, I'll create a diversion so you can go in and save Nellie, Rainy, you make sure no one..." She looked to see where the crocodilian man was. 

He was too busy climbing down the wall, axe at hand, he exclaimed a more rough sounding Trans-Atlantic tone, "Oleeeeeeeander LOCKWOODE!!!" akin to a World of Warcraft player and ran into the building.

Zoey stared in shock for a second before she asked, "Oh my god. You saw that right, Ange? He just ran in." 

Angie sighed as she kicked in a window and flew in, ready to save Nellie, Zoey finally snapped out of it and followed in too.

To Be Continued


	87. Bringing Down the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> It's up to Angeline, Zoey, and Rainy to take down Beezel on the outside, while Nellie does her best on the inside.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality residing within me of the same name  
> Rainy the SD40 is the trainsona of a personality residing within me  
> Angie the SD40 is my OC  
> Beezelbub is a representation of a bad personality residing within me
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Beezelbub-Lilith-Azazel-The-Missing-Mercury-813695189

The woman glared at Rainy and huffed, "You? You're betraying me now. After I coaxed you into prying info from Nellie?" she lifted her hand upwards and created a wall of shadow to shield her from the crocodilian diesel.

The auburn reptile struck the axe on the weak barrier and let it shatter before he hit the woman over the head with the handle of the weapon with a proud smile on his face.

Angie cautiously approached Nellie who was slumped over, feeling for a pulse on the bruised humanoid in a hospital gown.

Beezel glanced in the direction of Angie and let out a scream of anger, a shockwave came hurdling at the two.

Angie flew in front of Nellie and absorbed the blow, unaffected by the darkness.

Zoey examined the pool in the centre of the room while her friends were distracting the foe, she smelled it before a fire blast came flying at her. She flew upwards and out of the way to avoid it, however the pool of the oil ignited.

A shrill sound filled the air, the honks and whistles of the fallen engines pulled into hell before.

"Looks like I'll have four to sacrifice tonight," Beezelbub cackled, as she watched the flames move aside from the now glowing red liquid, moving around the salt pentagram to open the portal into the underworld.  
She focused deep and slammed her hands on the ground with a smirk.

Tendrils of shadows latched onto the unconscious SW1001 as well as onto Rainy, and had latched onto Zoey's un-armoured throat, they were unable to touch Angie.

The humanoid SD40-2 channelled intense light energy stemming from her anger. She screamed out, "Lozn meyn frendz geyn!"  
Light filled the room and dispelled the shadows.  
Angie approached Beezel and remarked sternly, "You are no different than the Pharaohs that tormented my people and those who made my father's parents flee Poland before I was even designed," the bespectacled ginger proclaimed in a vengeful tone, "Never mess with a child of Israel."  
She softly commanded, glaring at the demonic woman before her, "Wrath of the River Jordan!"  
Angie drew forth the water droplets in the air, each particle latching hard onto Beezel making her incapable of moving before she called forth a scythe of light, muttering softly to herself, "Angel of Death"

Beezel laughed and remarked, "You really think that will kill me?"

"I should hope so"   
With that Angie struck Beezel across the midsection with the tool of light

In the depths of Nellie's mind, where she was being tormented by Beezel from the inside, a beam of light cracked its way through the dark purple fog, shining upon the fox-eared woman. 

The demonic beast reached its claws to try to get at Nellie, but the light created a protective field around the humanoid. 

Nellie took this to her advantage, and began walking forward, trying to think as positively as possible, thinking about all the kind humans and engines she had met in her life. Whether they still were in her life or not didn't matter. She channelled all the positivity, making the bright light stronger, causing the darkness to dispel.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I HAVE CONTROL OVER YOU!" The demonic goat steam monster roared in anger, "YOU'RE A WEAK LITTLE SWITCHER! NO ONE WOULD CARE IF YOU DIED!"

"Even if that was true, others have cared and do care." 

In the outside world, Angie had been thrown back, but she wasn't down. 

Zoey took the opportunity to charge full tilt at Beezel, punching the demon across the face with immense force.

"You hit like a girl..." the flapper woman hissed as she tried to hit Zoey back

The humanoid GP30 grabbed the woman by the midsection and slammed her down hard onto the concrete floor, remarking with a proud smile, "Thanks. I am one!"

Rainy now had his chance, picking up Nellie while heading for the door, hoping that he could get his friend to safety.

Beezel looked up to see Zoey and Angie trying to catch their breaths, she studied where Rainy was and what he was doing. She snuck over to the flaming pentagram, unharmed by the flames and drew in the energy produced from the gateway.  
She called out, "Bet you won't be able to save Nellie!"   
She aimed the palms of her hands at the SW1001 who was now breathing more deeply. 

Zoey looked up and saw the dark energy blast shot out from the palms of the demonic foe, heading towards Nellie, she didn't know what to do, she needed to do something, ANYTHING.

Nellie began to stir, she was beginning to wake up from being trapped in her own body. Her greyish blue eyes beheld a sight most awful.   
Zoey had been struck by the dark magic and fell to the ground, her armour absorbing some of the blow, however, some of it was too strong. 

The humanoid GP30 writhed in pain, screaming. Behind her jacob's ladder ultra-sonic stylized headphones, a pair of long white rabbit ears popped up from amidst the thick brown hair of the woman.  
Zoey looked up at Beezel, unphased by what happened, not realizing she had rabbit ears now. She growled, "That's just weak! Now you're really going to get it!"

Nellie weakly took out her phone, seeing that the portal's fires were getting dimmer by the second, noticing it was nearing 4 AM.   
She mustered up all her strength and cried out in a yell that was more of a loud talk, "PUSH HER INTO THE POOL! IT'S ALMOST 4"

Angie focused deeply and yelled in fierce anger as she started using all her light energy in the sunstone talisman to begin pushing the flapper woman towards the pentagram.

Beezel called upon her strength, convusling and twitching, becoming a smaller version of her distorted engine form. She was weakened from the light.

Zoey rocketed in using her jet pack and slammed her whole body against the creature, sending it skidding into the pentagram further.

The swirling glowing liquid became like a syphon, trying to pull the beastly Beezelbub into the pool.  
She dug her claws in, trying to hang on and remain in the realm of the living.  
"HAH! So much for your tries!"

Rainy had enough and leapt at Beezel unarmed, he didn't care what happened next, hoping that it would help

The goat monster walloped the former CEMR crocodilian with her left horn, sending him flying back against a wall.

"I'm okay!" he called out, even if his back hurt something fierce.

Zoey channelled the sunstone in her suit, as Angie channelled the last drops of light from her gem.   
With all their might, the two former CP diesel humanoids shot the brightest flash of light at the beast, sending her into the swirling portal.

"NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Beezel screamed as her form shifted down to her weakened human state.

Nellie looked up, still exhausted from her injuries, she stated, "Say 'hi' to Satan for me."

The portal closed with a roar, all the flames extinguishing and the pool of once flaming oil was now completely empty.

Zoey took off her headband, killing the electricity flow, as she walked up to Nellie to check if her best friend was alright. She knelt down close to Nellie and soothed, "It's over now, we won. You'll be safe."

"Oh wow, rabbit ears are a real look for you," Nellie weakly said, raising her bruised right hand up to touch them.

Zoey reached up and felt them herself, she cursed under her breath.

Nellie let out a little chuckle and remarked, "Don't worry, you'll get used to them."

Angie helped up Nellie and asked, "So, where to now?"

The humanoid SW1001 asked in a tired tone, "I want to go to bed."

The brunette laughed and remarked, "I can agree with that."

Rainy stood up and asked, "Can we go see a vet? I think I broke my back."

To Be Continued.


	88. She's Just a Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Nellie has some hospital visitors on the Wednesday after her accident.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona  
> Zoey the GP30 is the trainsona of the personality residing within me of the same name  
> Lazuli, Angie, Tracy, and Star are my OCs  
> Rainy the SD40 is the trainsona of Oleander, a personality residing within me.

Nellie was on her 2nd day of hospital rest. Since she loathed the hospital food, Zoey always brought something for Nellie when she visited, since her legs ached too much to walk very far.

The humanoid SW1001 pressed the button on the hospital bed to raise herself up to a sitting position to be able to look outside at the mid-day sun shining upon the little garden behind the hospital as she was bored of playing games on her phone. She was extremely thankful that diesels had equal rights to Canadians and ergo could go to the hospital if too battered to repair.  
She heard someone coming down the hallway, hoping it was Zoey bringing some tomato soup and a bagel with margarine. 

It was not so.

In through the door way barged in a freckled 5 foot 7 inch woman, not as heavy as Nellie but she was a redhead, her greys made her hair look more the colour of a yam.  
She took a look at Nellie with her eyes and huffed, "Pfft, you shouldn't be in that much pain from being struck."

Nellie knew who it was, she remarked with a scowl, "I'm INJURED, Tracy. Slade knows! Debbie knows!"

"Well you're just lying. You can walk fine I bet."

The fox-eared humanoid SW1001 moved over to the edge of the bed and went to stand up, her legs wobbled as she did so. The short-stocky woman held onto the bed as she walked.

"BULLSHIT! Walk normal!"

Nellie struggled to let go of the bed and her legs started to give way as she collapsed ass first on the linoleum tile floor.

Tracy scoffed and rolled her eyes, rudely remarking, "Stop pretending! I've seen you almost break your coupler off and you worked!"

The cheery bespectacled brunette waltzed into the room with a McDonalds bag, she was about to greet Nellie when she looked upon what was going on. Her smile faded into an expression of raw anger, she set down the bag and barked, "What the actual fuck is going on in here?"

"She's just being a fucking liar! Your rental is being lazy!" Tracy retorted, arms crossed.

Nellie started sobbing intensely.

Zoey walked up to Tracy and sternly ordered, "She's HURT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COME IN HERE AND HURT HER!"

The humanoid EMD GP unit sneered, "Like I'm going to take orders from the fucking Easter Bunny!"

The brunette fumed upon being insulted in such a way.

A nurse hurried in upon hearing the sounds of anger and aggression.   
She asked sternly, "Nellie, why are you on the ground?"

Zoey aggressively hushed the freckled woman, not wanting to hear another word.

"The freckled woman demanded I walk, claiming I'm lying about my injuries," Nellie admitted defeatedly, tears rolling down her pale grey cheeks.

The nurse, with Zoey's help, aided in Nellie standing up and helped her back to the bed.  
She remarked harshly, "Please leave, the patient struggles to stand alone."

"Oh, KAY..." the humanoid GP40 sharply remarked before leaving. 

Nellie wiped her tears as she sniffled, she felt so attacked and weak.

Zoey hugged Nellie gently from the side, soothing gently, "I'm sorry she was rude, I promise I won't let her come back."

"I'm so glad you came to my rescue... How's everyone doing at BUNX?" The fox-eared girl sniffled as she began to calm down a little

The brunette answered as she let go of Nellie, "Angie is getting along great with almost everyone, except Rainy, and sometimes me... However, she's really happy having more freedoms. Annanova is going to take Star and Lazuli on a little stay during the weekend to the Mere this weekend, I've called and made a formal apology to my sister, and Malcolm... well, I gave him an earful and am keeping him away from BUNX and the GWWD yard."

Nellie felt bad that Malcolm got in trouble.

Zoey sighed as she sat down on the bed beside her best friend, "Nellie, he caused me to cause you discomfort. He also talked about your private matters without your permission nor consent." She looked at the grey-ish blue eyes of her friend and continued gently, "You deserve more respect."

The nurse wheeled in a tray and with a smile, she asked, "Nellie Dawn Joliet?"

The ginger nodded.

The nurse pushed the table to be across Nellie's bed and set down a tray before leaving.

Nellie lifted the lid on the bulky plastic tray. There was a bowl of peaches, some rice, 2% milk, two packets of saltines, and a bowl of carrot soup. She waited until the nurse left before taking out off the tray the milk and the peaches handing Zoey the spoon remarking, "I can't stand carrot soup."

Zoey traded the tray off for the bag of McDonalds, she accepted the spoon with a smile and crushed up the saltines.

Nellie opened the bag to find a 10 pack of nuggets, a small order of salt-less fries, and Pokemon Happy Meal toy.  
She lightly chuckled and remarked, "Bless your soul, Zoey, for saving me from carrot soup and from Tracy."

The brunette smiled softly to Nellie before beginning to have the rice and soup.

To Be Continued


	89. Good News and a Bunny Doll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> After her lunch with Nellie, Zoey hears good news from Lazuli that Macswell will be coming to BUNX.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Macswell the SD90MAC is my OC  
> Lazuli the GP20ECO is my OC

Zoey had just finished her carrot soup and rice when her phone rang. She delicately set down the tray on the table that spanned Nellie's hospital bed before she pulled out her Google Pixel and answered it.  
"Hello, this is Zoey Krolik of BUNX, where our rentals have personality. How may I help you today?" the brunette answered in a friendly yet business-like manner.

"Zoe! I have great news! Macswell is back! He's going to be visiting BUNX in an hour!" Lazuli exclaimed over the phone. 

The humanoid GP30 lowered her phone and looked to Nellie as she asked, "Macswell is back. Would it be alright if I came back later, Nellie?"

The fox eared ginger nodded and asked, "Sure, but could you bring one of my stuffed animals when you come back?"

Zoey went back to the phone conversation and remarked, "I'll be down there in two twitches of a bunny's nose. See you when I get there, sis," before she hung up and looked back to Nellie, asking curiously, "Which one? You have like 30 or more."

"I want Zoe."

The humanoid GP30 was taken aback.  
"What do you mean?"

"My white rabbit, she has a little brown silk bow and brown eyes... and ears like you have now." 

Zoey was still perplexed, "You named your rabbit doll after me."

Nellie explained, "I got her the day before I met you, and she didn't have a name then, so after I met you, I wanted to name the bunny 'Zoe'."

"While that's a little weird," the brunette stated, then noticing Nellie's sadness, she continued in a more gentle voice, "I appreciate that you named a rabbit after me because I made a positive impression on you."  
She moved the table out of the way and gave Nellie a tight hug as she softly said, "I'll be back around dinner, and I'll make sure to bring Zoe along too."

The brunette headed out of the room, went down to the main floor, paid for her parking and was on her way to BUNX in her blue VW Bus.

To Be Continued


	90. The Two Lovers in the Latrine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Zoey heads to the GWWD office to go get Lazuli before they go to see Macswell who is back from repairs, until she hears something going on in the bathroom of the converted old station.
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Macswell the SD90MAC is my OC  
> Lazuli the GP20ECO is my OC  
> Angie the SD40-2 is my OC  
> Sapphirra the GE C40-8W is my OC

The rabbit-eared brunette drove up to the old GWWD station and headed in to look for Lazuli, since she had used the phone in the last 10 minutes.  
Zoey entered the station to find no one was in the main area of the station as the GWWD staff had all gone for lunch She was alone, or so she thought.  
As the brown eyed woman with the rabbit nose was about to turn around and head out of the office, she heard something.  
She listened in with both her humanoid and rabbit ears, noticing it sounded like hushed giggling and kissing. Zoey followed the sound, stepping softly, trying to avoid the creaky floorboards.   
After a minute of sneaking, she had arrived at the washroom of the station.  
The humanoid GP30 placed her hand on the door knob and opened the door swiftly to reveal the two whom were being love birds on the latrine.

There, looking back at Zoey was Angie sitting upon Sapphirra's lap. Angie's coppery hair, was for once let down, and her glasses were slightly askew. 

"What in GMD's name are you doing in this bathroom, Angie? I know you're probably both on lunch, but this is just... Just no..." Zoey stated as she crossed her arms, glaring at the two humanoid diesels in the small lavatory.

Sapphirra softly cooed to Angie, "I'm sorry I got us caught."

Angie adjusted her glasses and sighed, "I'm sorry that Sapph and I were kissing and getting handsy in.."

Zoey interrupted, "Okay, that's way TMI."

"Oy vey. Let's go, Sapph." Angie remarked as she put her hair back up and stood up, truding out of the station, below her breath calling Zoey a plethora of insults in Yiddish.

The teal haired tall woman apologized softly to Zoey before she also exited the washroom.

Zoey remarked to Angie in a more polite tone, "It's alright, just try not to do that again here. What if I had been a human-human?"

The humanoid CN C40-8W nodded and went outside to find Angie.

Suddenly, from the edge of the yard outside of the station, a loud and sudden all-high quick honk was heard, the tones nearly identical.  
The brunette rushed over to a window and peered out, seeing who was entering the yard before bolting out of the station to go see her uncle figure.

To Be Continued


	91. The Return in Action Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Macswell's back, in a new colour and is healthier than ever.
> 
> this chapter is necessary to wrap up the over-arcing story before I go on to make stand alone stories from the universe where engines don't turn animalistic, but they can turn human with an amulet that enables them to do so.
> 
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me  
> Macswell the SD90MAC is my OC  
> Lazuli the GP20ECO is my OC  
> Angie the SD40-2 is my OC

Rolling into the yard, as proud as a lion, the former SD90MAC rolled. No longer was he sun-lightened candy apple, but instead he was action red, his cab decorated with white 45 degree angle candy stripes, and emblazoned on either side of his engine bay were white beaver emblems. 

Lazuli exclaimed joyfully as she saw Macswell, "YOU'RE BACK!" She fell silent as she saw him approach, noticing his eyes were now a dark emerald green instead of brown. She glanced up to his cab, seeing that it was empty, she then began to honk joyously.

Macswell came to a stop right before Lazuli and asked, "What do you think?" the kindly diesel softly remarked, "I asked the factory staff to make me action red like you. The green eyes was EMD's idea, though I told them I didn't want bright green because I didn't want to scare my niece back home."

Lazuli shrunk down to her human form, wheeled up to the large SD70ACe and gave his shiny new coupler a hug. 

Macswell also shifted to his human form, kneeling on one knee to be able to give his humanoid GP20-ECO niece a hug back.

Zoey ran up and exclaimed joyfully, "Uncle Macswell!"

The humanoid in the action red dress shirt and white slacks stood up straight and hugged Zoey back laughing happily, "It's nice to be back on familiar soil. I can't wait to get back to McPhilips Station to see Angeline and..."

"She works for us now!" Lazuli exclaimed joyfully.

Macswell responded in slight shock as he let go of Zoey, "Wow, that's really new. Anyways, I am so glad to be back, even if EMD made my face less nicely shaped because they wanted to cut notches into my cab's window slope."   
He laughed stood on the rails, shifting back to his engine form as he stated, "I can come by tomorrow before I get sent out on my first long haul and treat you kids to dinner if you'd like."

The brunette iterated with a laugh, "Nah, we will treat you to dinner though. Regardless, we are so happy you're alright."

To Be Continued


	92. Nellie Goes Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> The second last chapter of the initial Distorted Diesels run.  
> There will be more though
> 
> Nellie is my trainsona.  
> Zoey the GP30 belongs to Zoey, a personality residing within me

On the Friday, the 25th of September, Nellie was finally released from the hospital, she was able to walk on her own with very little issues.   
She recounted to herself, as she boarded a bus with her belongings and dropped in her bus ticket, all that she had been through in the last 8 months, how it was pure hell with some good moments and some bad, as well as how much of the bad was her fault for not thinking or being a shitty and selfish diesel. She thought about all the friends she had lost and how many she had gained as she sat down and looked at the dark and neon pattern on the seat beside her.  
The humanoid SW1001 looked out the window, wondering what would be next, whatever it was, she would have to be ready for it, as awful or good as it could be, she would just have to keep rolling with the punches, like it or not. 

Once the bus reached Archibald, the ginger got off the bus stop and walked a short distance to Zoey's house. She unlocked the door, entered the industrial home, and locked the door back up.  
She went to her room and flopped down on her bed with all her stuffies before pulling out of her bag her white rabbit named 'Zoe' as she said softly to it, "Now for a well deserved nap."


	93. Merely a Sleepover; Laz and Star's Adventure in the Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world where locomotives made since 1920 can change into humanoid beings, scarring memories and emotional turmoil result in the forms of the engines being shifted to being more animalistic. These stories look at a small leaser railway run by one of the only GMD GP30s, as well as focusing on Nellie Dawn Joliet for the initial run of the series.
> 
> Laz, Star and Annanova go to the Mere Hotel on Waterfront Drive, a little adventure is had by the two humanoid diesel girls at places you can visit in real life.
> 
> Lazuli, Star, and Annanova are my OCs  
> Zoey is the trainsona of a personality residing within me of the same name.
> 
> Yes, this is the last chapter of the over-arcing story of Distorted Diesels that I began back last July, but now it'll be continued in little stories that aren't all entirely connected nor are following a timeline, but still have our beloved friends from BUNX.  
> Thank you, this has been a great journey, but it's not over yet ;)  
> Continuation of series: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/23832478/chapters/57269137>

The day had come for the two young diesels, it was finally their sleepover at the Mere Hotel.  
Once checked in, Star grabbed one of the keycards, excitedly trilling, "Hold tight, Laz," before she took off running while pushing the humanoid GP20-ECO's wheelchair.  
The two raced down the hall giggling excitedly, wondering what kind of suite there'd be and for the free snacks and beverages the hotel would provide.

The two stopped in front of the hotel room door and Star tapped the card against the entry lock making the light green and enabling the girls to enter.  
The room had a river view, with two soft and fluffy beds, the back wall was grey with a ripply pattern. The next room over was smaller and where Annanova would sleep.

Lazuli was parked beside the bed where she managed to lift herself onto the first bed with no issue and grabbed the remote to start flipping through channels.

Star looked outwards of the window, seeing the reddish-brown water of the river and remarked, "I never realized how yucky the river looks. At least the trees across the river and the sky is nice!" The humanoid AC4400 plopped down on her bed and started jumping up and down, laughing a bit, she had always seen kids on tv doing that, but now she had her chance.  
On her 7th jump she tucked in her legs and landed on the bed, giggling from having done that. 

"Star, act your age," Lazuli teased as she stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Material age or mental age? Either way, nope!" Star giggled before hopping across to Lazuli's bed and giving the cat-eared young adolescent a hug.

Annanova came in and laughed as she saw Star and Laz already settling in. She asked curiously, "So what do you girls want to do? Just watch TV? Or we could go to the science gallery over at the Museum and catch a planetarium show?"

Star asked, "Maybe Laz and I could just watch some cartoons for a little while?"

Annanova didn't mind that and decided to head to her room to take a well deserved nap.

The two girls, however, had no intention of sitting there and watching cartoons, they were going to head out and explore, since Lazuli's phone was hooked up to CP's credit card and they could go shopping.

The two humanoid diesels waited in silence until they could hear Lazuli's engineer snoring, it was finally time.  
They turned up the TV a bit louder and stuffed the pillows under the duvets to look like them taking a nap. Lazuli, with the help of Star, got into her wheelchair, and the two snuck out of their hotel room and ventured down the hall, snickering gleefully, ready for an adventure to a toy store a city block away.

Lazuli softly snickered, "Alright, Stardust, let's go to Toad Hall Toys."

The dark haired freckly girl pushed her girlfriend's wheelchair as she giggled, "I'm so hyped! I've never been to a real toy store, only Toys R Us and Build-A-Bear."

The ginger with the kitty ears remarked as they exited the side entrance of the hotel, "I've been once with Zoey. She had to carry me up the stairs, but that's easy for you to do. Their model trains are so gorgeous, and they have candy and DIY kits and stuffed animals, and vintage stuff, and... I don't know, there's just so much stuff."

The two looked down Waterfront drive left and then right before crossing the road and beginning down the opposite side of the winding road that followed the Red River.

Star sprinted along gleefully pushing her girlfriend along the sidewalk. She inquired, "Which street do we take?" glancing up once in a while at the high rises that had replaced the old industrial buildings that once lined the water's edge street.

A while of the girls running eagerly along the sidewalk enjoying the beautiful autumn trees and the architecture of the newer buildings.

The humanoid repowered GP unit called out as she finished checking her phone, "Star-girl, hang a right up here at Bannatyne."

The girl in the blue dress and matching work boots, "Banana Time?" 

"No, Bannatyne. The one coming up soon."

The humanoid AC44 slowed down before they reached the roundabout near an outdoor patio.

A business man who was having drinks at the patio glanced over at the two and asked worriedly, "Are you minors walking downtown without an adult? You know that it's rather dangerous."

Star answered without much thought, "I'm a lot tougher than I look, Mister. Trust me, I'm a diesel."

The business man stifled a laugh with a smile before asking, "Is that so?"

"Hold onto the wheelchair good, Laz." the former CEFX humanoid diesel proclaimed. She gave Laz enough time to grip onto the wheelchair before Star grabbed either wheel and lifted her Lazuli ,and the wheelchair Lazuli was in, over her head with hardly any effort.  
She laughed and replied with a smirk, "Trust me, Mister, I'm strong."

The man applauded as he laughed in awe, "I'm not sure if I'm drunk and this is a hallucination or not, but that was impressive."  
He remarked sincerely, "Just remember, strength is great, but you girls need street smarts, so you still need to be careful."

The two girls nodded and headed down the street, continuing on their venture to the toy store in the Exchange District.

Lazuli and Star headed up the sidewalk of the quiet cobblestone street, admiring the large buildings as they approached the main street of Winnipeg.

Star peeked down an alleyway and saw the Aveda School and asked to her girlfriend, "What's an Aveda?"

"That's where Zoey goes to get her blue dye redone," Lazuli explained, "She says if ever I want to go more red, then she'll take me."

"Why would you do that?"

"Pfft, I don't even know. I mean like, I wouldn't. I like red clothes, but I don't think I could do action red hair. That's a little too much."

Star glanced back to the beige brick building, thinking for a second before asking, "What if I went action red?"

Lazuli looked back at her girlfriend as she remarked, "Star, you don't have to change a thing, I love you."

The human AC44 stopped walking, leaned down and kissed her girlfriend's lips quickly before the two resumed following the avenue lined with buildings that were possibly older than their combined material age. 

The two reached Main Street, looking at the 4 lanes of traffic each way.  
Cars, buses, and people on bikes; all bustling about on that sunny Saturday afternoon. 

Lazuli let out a chuckle as she saw across the street a shop called 'Antiques and Funk' as she had misread it.

"Hey, what's so..." Star began to say before noticing the shop herself, she let out a giggle-snort and asked to her girlfriend, "Can you legally put the fuck-word in your shop name?"

The humanoid GP20-ECO glanced back and did a double-take, Star had accidentally swore while trying not to use the word. She began laughing.  
She stopped laughing and her cat-like ears pointed downwards in fear as she noticed someone approaching them, he didn't look quite as benign as the last human. 

"Hey, where is your girls' parents," the strange and unsettling white-fellow greeted with a smile, "Are you lost?"

Star was about to respond honestly and ask the stranger to leave, before she could, Lazuli noticed the crosswalk sign lit up and told Star to run them across.  
The humanoid AC44 sprinted across the intersection, pushing her girlfriend's wheelchair. 

The human pursued the two, however, weren't capable of keeping up with the running speed of Star on the lucky account that humans just can't run as fast as humanoid diesels. 

The two bolted down Bannatyne, thankful they had made it away because Star could outrun the creepy stranger.

The two looked up at the large building before them, a cinema and arts centre that once housed the Clark Brothers' Whole Sale Dry Goods ages ago. 

"Artspace," Lazuli softly muttered as she looked up at the banner hanging beside the entry way. She glanced down the street to the left of them, they were almost there, they were on Arthur Street, all of maybe 4 minutes away from their destination.

Star cautiously pushed the wheelchair down the cobblestone sidewalks, trying to avoid getting the wheels stuck in the grooves in the stones. They admired the architecture a little more before they spotted a shop across the street from them. Below a balcony of the Mariaggi's Theme Suites, was a quaint little bakery with a teal sign that read 'CAKEOLOGY'.

"I want to go in there," the humanoid with the upright cat ears blurted out. She smelled the air and could smell in the air the scent of meringue and vanilla cupcakes being baked.

Without hesitation, Star and Lazuli crossed the street and with little to no effort, Star lifted the wheelchair up the short stairs of the shop.

A nice bakery worker was surprised to see Lazuli being lifted in, but greeted politely, "Hello, Welcome to Cakeology. Is there anything you're looking for?"

Lazuli looked towards the glass display case where they had little iced cake-balls. She pointed to them eagerly and remarked, "We want those!"

Star looked over the flavours and the price of the cakettes before deciding, "We'd like a dozen and a half."

The nice bakery lady remarked as she got out a teal paper bag for the little sweet delightful cakes, "Which ones would you kids like?"

The two took humanoid diesels turns saying which ones they'd want.  
"Could we geeeet... 3 of the Fudge Brownie, please."  
"Oh! And 3 Pumpkin Spice! If that's alright."  
"Also 3 Salted Caramel and 3 Funfetti, too."  
"And 3 Oreo, please."

The bakery worker had obtained 3 of each of the flavours the girls had requested after half a minute before she stated kindly, "You girls have 15 in the bag, you can get 3 more."

"What kind does Annanova like?" Star remarked thoughtfully.

"Salted Caramel, I think." Lazuli answered before remarking to the bakery worker, "3 salted caramel cakettes to finish the pack please"

The bakery worker placed the 3 final cakettes into the bag before heading to the counter. She asked as she placed the bag down on the counter, "How will you girls be paying today?"

"Apple-pay," Lazuli remarked before taking out her cellphone and using it to pay the for the cakettes.

Once the sweet treats were purchased, Lazuli was carefully lifted down out of the shop and Star and Laz were now on their way down the street to Toad Hall Toys.

The two girls crossed McDermot and then crossed to the right side of Arthur, they hurried along the sidewalk to the large old building with the beautifully carved hanging sign that read 'Toad Hall Toys'.

Star, once again lifted Lazuli's wheelchair up the stairs of the shop after propping the door open, and then lifted the humanoid GP20-ECO up the stairs inside, they were finally here. 

The shop smelled of the old varnished oak that lined the floors, the ceiling lights shone upon the rows and rows of toys and puzzles and kits all available for sale.  
Star saw a rack of stickers and her attention went all to there. 

Lazuli wheeled herself along. 

A worker came from the back to greet the girls, "Good afternoon, young ladies. Is there anything we can help you find on this lovely Autumn day?"

The girl clad in blue and white remarked excitedly, "Do you have stick on earrings?"

The man pointed to the aisle next to the sticker section and remarked, "We also have organic nail polish too, it's really nice."

Star responded with a smile, "Thanks, sir," and headed on her way to go check out the sticker earrings she would inevitably put on her face to make herself look cute.

The cat eared girl was about to say something when the shop owner noticed her ears.

"What remarkable cat ears, why they almost look real. Who made them?"

Lazuli went along with it responding partially truthfully, "I did, I was angry at a jerk that insulted me and my girlfriend here, and so I used that energy to make something cute. Personally I love wearing them and I wouldn't want to take them off."  
She was honest in that she didn't want to lose her cat ears, Zoey had talked to Laz about getting some of her metal frame work replaced to cleanse the GP20-ECO of her corruption, but Lazuli refused, since she felt her cat ears were and extension of herself and reflected her truest form.

The man remarked as he went back to recount the inventory of the growing water dinosaurs, "If you girls need anything, just come back here and I'll help."

The ginger girl wheeled herself towards the back of the shop where the model trains were, she cautiously navigated the narrow walk-ways between displays until she had reached her destination, the glass case where they kept the model trains.

While there were steam engines that were beautiful with real polished brass, Lazuli's eyes looked upon the HO model diesels. There was some early GE switchers, some RS units by MLW, a few EMDs from the 1950s, and an action red GMD GP9u, with the stripes and multimark. The price was even right, priced to clear at $50. Lazuli needed this. She noticed a sign that read, "Ask us for attachable faces, only $5 more for a custom one when you buy an engine."  
The cat eared girl looked to the elderly fellow working at the model booth and she asked, "Excuse me, Mister, I want to buy this CP General Purpose 9 with the chopped nose."

"Someone knows their trains," the man remarked as he came over, he asked as he took out the keys, "Would you also like a customized face for the engine?" 

Lazuli watched as he slid open the glass after unlocking it. She proudly answered, beaming as he took the diesel out, "Yes please, I was wondering if you could make it look like me?"

The man was befuddled at first but shrugged it off, taking it to his work bench before applying the little plastic grey face with some no-damage adhesive and gently painting the eyes green and painting on an emulation of Lazuli's eyeliner.

Meanwhile, Star had wandered away from the sticker aisle and to the plush toy section. She however, felt discouraged by the high price of even the smallest of stuffed animals. $18 for a plush blue jay that could sit on her palm. She wanted it so badly but it was far too much in her mind. She wandered away holding it, maybe hoping Lazuli would say yes, but anticipating that it would be a resounding 'no'.

Once the man was done readying Lazuli's model train for purchase, she had turned around her wheelchair carefully and noticed Star looking at the mystery Breyer Horses. She called out to Star, "Stardust, come see what I'm having made."

The humanoid AC44 grabbed two blind bagged unicorns before hurrying over to see the finished product of the man's work.

"Now, do you want a name on the cab too? I won't charge ya for it," the elderly human stated as he got out a little paint brush and some white, fast drying paint.

"I'd like to have the name 'Lazuli' put under neath the number, please, Mister."

The man nodded and began painting a cursive L before spelling out the rest of the name more normally, smiling as he dotted the 'i' at the end of the diesel's name. He looked to Lazuli and asked the young lass, "Why is she named Lazuli when her eyes are green?"

Lazuli explained, "During a rebuild, they made her blue eyes to be a vivid and bright green, like mine."

Once the paint dried after two minutes, he placed the diesel carefully into a box and remarked, "Here you go, Miss."

Lazuli remarked, "Thank you so much, Mister." She turned her attention to her girlfriend before trilling joyfully, "Hey! You found stuff too, great, what ever it is, I'll buy." 

The two girls headed to the front of the store together, Star now relieved that she could have the things she wanted.

The shop worker stated happily, "I'm so glad you girls found what you wanted," he rang up the toys on the register and prepared the machine to accept the Apple Pay

Lazuli got out her phone and paid for the fun trinkets that her and Star bought.

The two were about to thank the shop worker when in through the shop door walked the creepy man from earlier.  
He remarked with a smile, "There you girls are, I've been looking all over for you. Come along with Uncle, we have to go home now."

The shop worker could tell from Star and Lazuli's dismay that the man wasn't who he said he was and stated sternly, "If they're your nieces, what's their names?"

The strange man smiled and answered, lying through his teeth, "Uh, well that's simple, so the red-head is cat, and the dark haired girl is her sister, Hazel."

The shop keeper remarked sternly, "Yeah, no, they're not those people you say they are, additionally, they are a couple." He picked up his phone and was about to proceed to call the police, while another worker came out from the back and chased the man out of the store.

Lazuli and Star knew that they had to get back to the Mere, but how would they now?

The worker woman who was in the back of the shop, once she chased off the man, she stated, "You girls shouldn't be alone down here. It's really dangerous. Now I know you probably don't trust strangers, but I'm going to have to get you to go home. I'll call you a cab."

"Thanks so much, Miss and Mister," the two humanoid diesels said in unison, thankful that they were saved.

In about 10 minutes, a taxi had arrived for the two humanoid diesels, Star loaded the purchases cautiously into Lazuli's backpack and helped carry her girlfriend in the wheelchair down the stairs, and helped her into the cab, before getting into the cab herself.  
The ride back to the Mere Hotel was a quiet one, but the girls were thankful they were alright.

Once the two girls got back and had paid the cab driver after getting out of the car, they decided to head to the Cibo Waterfront Cafe to have a bite to eat as their adventure had made them hungry.

Lazuli and Star had just entered the restaurant when the humanoid GP20-ECO received a text from Annanova, "Just woke up, you girls want to do anything?"  
The ginger texted back, "Stardust and I headed down to the restaurant for a bite, come join us."

Once the two girls were seated, the platinum blonde 20-something approached their table wearing more semi-casual attire, she remarked, "I'm glad you girls had a nice break watching cartoons. So what did you watch?"

Star thought before she stated, "Well, we logged into Lazuli's Netflix and we watched some Stranger Things, and we ordered some cakettes from a bakery, and Skip the Dishes brought them to us, so we have them for later."

Lazuli remarked, "And we also ordered some toys from Toad Hall, and we have them here."

Annanova laughed and responded, "That doesn't sound like you two. Tell me honestly, did you sneak out and go shopping?"

The two girls looked at each other and responded, "Yeah... But, we promise we won't do that again, we need more street smarts."

The engineer smiled at the young humanoid diesels and remarked, "Don't worry, I won't tell Zoey."

The three all enjoyed flatbread pizzas, some buttermilk chicken, and home-style garlic bread before going back to their hotel rooms to enjoy their cakettes before they all watched the movie Rocketman on HBO before calling it a night.

Lazuli and Star were now in their pajamas on their beds, in their room alone. Star was looking up at the sky above, looking at the big orange harvest moon in the sky. Lazuli was busy looking over her model engine version of herself before she asked to Star, "Hey, Star? Do you think we'll be a couple forever?"

Star answered as she stepped away from the window and climbed up onto her bed, "Well, maybe, but I know for sure, we're going to be friends forever. I'll always be here for you, Laz."

The humanoid GP20-ECO smiled happily before setting down her model train and sliding in under the duvet of the bed, she softly said as she looked over at her sparkling eyed girlfriend, "Thanks, Stardust, you're the best. Sleep well."  
The ginger looked one last time over at her girlfriend for the night before closing her eyes.

Star giggled as she slightly scrunched her nose from smiling, then answered back happily, "Sweet dreams, my kitty-cat girlfriend." She too tucked herself into bed. She too began trying to fall asleep for the night, holding her plush blue jay close to her chest, a smile upon her face.

To Be Continued


End file.
